Creator and sustainer of all that is, we give you thanks for this day and for your infinite and unfathomable love.

In the midst of all the intensity within and around us, give us a moment of pause to remember why we are here.

You have given human beings the responsibility to make laws and allot collective resources so that all that you have created may flourish.

Remind us this day that laws are tools to help us carry out your commandment which comes to us through our varied religious traditions – and that is the commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Remind us also of your desire for justice especially for those who have been denied the rights, the resources, and the opportunities that have belonged to some but not to all.

May the law-making that happens in this chamber reflect your will, O God, that we find ways to live in harmony with one another and our planet home, recognizing the God-given dignity of all.

On this day, help us to remember our neighbors near and far and those we serve. Open our hearts to hear their pleas for justice and for compassion.

Give us tough minds and tender hearts.

Renew our strength for this challenging work and be with the families of those who give so much in this place.

With humble hearts we pray, in the name of the One God of all. Amen.

Rev. Carol Jensen, Chair of the FAN Governing Board and interim pastor at University Lutheran Church, Seattle, delivered this invocation to the Washington State House of Representatives the morning of FAN’s Interfaith Advocacy Day, February 9, 2023.