Gracious God, your Son revealed the values of your realm of righteousness, justice, and love by engaging in conversation, study, and debate with everyone he met, friend or critic. Born in Houston on this date in 1936 with politics in her blood on her mother’s side, Barbara Jordan was a college debate champion, attorney, and teacher who became the first southern woman of African descent elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. During the Watergate impeachment hearings in 1974, she said, “The framers confided in the Congress the power, if need be, to remove the president in order to strike a delicate balance between a president swollen with power and grown tyrannical, and preservation of the independence of the executive.” As the eternal debate continues about the balance of powers among our public servants arrayed in their three coequal branches, we give you thanks for Barbara’s powerful example and voice. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Photo: AP)