Your Honors, I ask for a point of personal privilege before we pray today. Thanks are herewith extended to The Honorable Judge David Garcia of Denton County, Texas Criminal Court #3 for his invitation to me to be with you. I’d like to think the invitation was issued on account of our friendship, but he would probably would say it was because he felt a smidge sorry for me since his Texas Longhorns have beaten my Nebraska Cornhuskers ten out of the last eleven times they’ve met on the gridiron. Then again, maybe he wouldn’t say that. So I’m not quite sure why I’m here!
Football loyalties aside, Judge Garcia is a dear friend and quite a competitor on the golf course. I thought of him last Sunday when I preached a sermon on envy, one of the seven deadly sins. There is this strange form of envy that our German friends have a delicious word for. It’s called schadenfreude. It is defined as taking delight in the misfortune of someone else. I have this feeling quite regularly as I watch another one of David’s golf shots go into the woods or a water hazard. Of course, schadenfreude is exactly what he feels toward me after I walk off yet another green having three putted. On that alone, we have lots of sins to confess!
Some of you may know this, but not all of you. David leads a Sunday school class for the developmentally disabled at his church. That notched high marks in my heart as I’m the father of two autistic daughters. He may be – and probably is! – as competitive as anyone could get. But that’s not what matters most to me. Rather, it’s the gift of his unique faith and friendship. So, thank you Judge Garcia.
Let us pray:
Lord God, this is the day that you have made. Enable us to rejoice and be glad in it. Open our lips that our mouths may show forth your praise. Make haste to help us in the daily round of life. Look, with Your eye of blessing, on Your servants, these judges, assembled in this room. Grant to them wisdom and strength sufficient unto the day and to the many and various situations of their common calling. Shower every good and perfect gift upon their spouses and family members. Protect them all.
We pray for all those in positions of authority, for our armed forces, and for our first responders bother here in our beloved Texas and throughout the United States. Thank you for their faith, their commitment, and, with some, for their last full measure of devotion. Give to them a genuine, a humble, and a quiet yet powerful patriotism which revels in that freedom undergirded by a lawful and orderly society.
With gratitude, we remember before you the lives and the examples of the judges no longer with us in this earthly life. Thank You for the lessons they taught and the good precedents they set. Grant us Your grace and the gifts of Your Spirit so that we, with reverent joy, can look forward to that day when You welcome us home with a “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” Bless this food to the usefulness of our bodies and this fellowship to animate our friendships and enliven our vocation. We pray in the Name of the One who came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many – even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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