In January of 1996, the Rev. Joe Wright, senior pastor of the 2,500-member Central Christian Church in Wichita, was invited to offer the opening prayer at a session of the Kansas House of Representatives:

“Heavenly Father, we come before you to ask your forgiveness. We seek your direction and your guidance. We know your word says, “Woe to those who call evil good.” But that’s what we’ve done.

We’ve lost our spiritual equilibrium. We have inverted our values. We have ridiculed the absolute truth of your word in the name of moral pluralism. We have worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism.

We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.

We’ve exploited the poor and called it a lottery. We’ve neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. In the name of choice, we have killed our unborn. In the name of right to life, we have killed abortionists.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it taxes. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, oh, God, and know our hearts today. Try us. Show us any wickedness within us. Cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of the State of Kansas, and that they have been ordained by you to govern this great state.

Grant them your wisdom to rule. May their decisions direct us to the center of your will. And, as we continue our prayer and as we come in out of the fog, give us clear minds to accomplish our goals as we begin this Legislature. For we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Rev. Wright had been invited to serve as the House’s guest chaplain by Rep. Anthony Powell, a Wichita Republican who was also a member of Wright’s church. Accordingly, Rev. Wright composed a prayer, read it at the opening of the legislature on January 23, and departed, unaware of the ruckus he had created until his church secretary called him on his car phone to ask him what he had done.

One Democrat walked out in protest, three others gave speeches critical of Wright’s prayer, and another blasted Wright’s “message of intolerance.” House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer (also a Democrat) asserted that the prayer “reflects the extreme, radical views that continue to dominate the House Republican agenda since right-wing extremists seized control of the House Republican caucus last year.” Rep. Jim Long, a Democrat from Kansas City, said that Wright “made everyone mad.” But Rep. Powell, who had invited Wright in the first place, claimed that House Democrats were only trying to make political points with their criticism and affirmed that he supported the theme of the prayer.

Rev. Wright said afterwards: “I certainly did not mean to be offensive to individuals, but I don’t apologize for the truth.” His staff stopped counting the telephone calls that came from every state and many foreign countries after the first 6,500. Wright appeared on dozens of radio shows and was the subject of numerous TV and print news reports, and his prayer stirred up controversy all over again when it was read by the chaplain coordinator in the Nebraska legislature the following month. Wright later explained, “I thought I might get a call from an angry congressman or two, but I was talking to God, not them. The whole point was to say that we all have sins that we need to repent -- all of us . . . The problem, I guess, is that you’re not supposed to get too specific when you’re talking about sin.”

What to make of all the fuss? Syndicated religion columnist Terry Mattingly probably explained it best when he wrote: “The easy answer is that he read a prayer about sin. The complicated answer is that Wright jumped into America’s tense debate about whether some things are always right and some things are always wrong.”

found at: snopes.com

Zechariah’s last words became famous because, for what seemed like an eternity, they actually were his last words. What a shock when Gabriel silenced his voice box for three trimesters. Why were these words his famous last ones? Simple . . . with them he roared an insult that reverberated in the very throne room of God. For the messenger had announced, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God” (Luke 1:19).

Zechariah’s last words were so insulting because they expressed doubt that God was telling him the truth: “Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son” (Luke 1:13). To doubt God’s truthfulness is to lump him together with the devil, the father of lies. To God, that’s a major league insult. To silence him was the equivalent of God saying, “Stick a sock in it.” Suddenly, Balaam’s donkey (Numbers 22) was more articulate in the presence of an angel than this member of the clergy.

…When his son was named “John,” Zechariah’s voice returned. Pent-up praise danced from his tongue. Silence was replaced with song: “The Lord . . . has come and has redeemed his people” (Luke 1:68). His famous last words would not be words of insulting doubt. Nor will ours.

Mattek, James A. Famous Last Words, p.7
December 2005. Forward in Christ, Vol. 92, No. 12

(Berlin) A repentant thief returned a laptop he had stolen from a computer shop after a salesman stumbled and broke his arm while chasing the bandit in the western town of Koblenz. “I’m sorry,” the thief said as he handed the laptop back to the clerk.

Repentant Thief Returns Laptop After Chaser Falls
September 2, 2004. Reuters – Oddly Enough

Comment: When Zachaeus repented of his sin, he returned even more. Why? Not because he hurt others and realized that he was wrong, but because Christ had shared with him the forgiveness of heaven. "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Luke 19:9,10

He wasn’t a Savior who had spared her from being a widow. He wasn’t a Savior who had filled her coffers or spared her from aches and pains. He was a Savior who was with her always, pointing to the sky with that knowing smile on his face. He was the Savior who held her by her right hand and promised that after a while he would take her into glory. He was the Savior who caused her to know that her flesh and her heart would fail, but that he was the strength of her heart and her portion forever. He was that Savior.

Hartzell, Eric S. Giving everything in love, p. 15
February 2005. Forward in Christ - features, Vol. 92, No. 2

Comment: cf. Mark 12:42 – Widow’s Mite

Jesus at first seems to slam the door on this mother’s hope by not answering. Yet, God-given faith sees a glimmer of light where the faithless find only darkness… She [Syro-Phoenician woman] finds hope in being referred to as a child’s pet dog and in hearing Jesus say: “First… the children.” This implies that the pets will receive their food next.

…[S]he trusts in her Master’s love and concern even for her and for all the dogs living “under the table.” She presses Jesus to fulfill his role as Master of both children and pets in his home.

…Even though we keep messing things up, he keeps removing us from “under the table” and giving us places of honor instead. He welcomes us to the Lord’s Supper, where he persists in feeding us with the Bread from heaven. He refuses to feed us mere crumbs.

Kieselhorst, Philip. Women of faith: The Canaanite woman, p. 33
October, 2004. Forward in Christ – Bible Study, Vol. 91, No. 10