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Most prayers at the Ohio Statehouse are relatively short and lack controversy. But when a pastor went on and on this week, the Ohio House speaker cut him off.

(Photo by Patrick O'Donnell, The Plain Dealer)

WASHINGTON -- The names "God" and the "Lord" naturally come up in prayers to open government meetings, though often in nonsectarian ways.

Then there was "Jesus," cited by name seven times and even more by inference in the Ohio Statehouse this week. "Jesus" might have been mentioned even more times, had Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger not cut off a guest minister, Pastor B.J. VanAman of the Pickerington Baptist Temple.

The pastor appeared to test the leader's patience, and well as that of some other lawmakers, with a prayer lasting beyond five minutes.

Rosenberger finally ended the invocation at Tuesday's session in Columbus -- part prayer, part Christian sermon -- by interrupting with an "Amen" and saying, "Pastor, thank you very much."

However uncomfortable the marathon invocation made some, Rosenberger's cutoff may have also made Ohio history. The Columbus Dispatch reported the interruption could have been unprecedented. And Rosenberger was practically apologetic later, saying, "I didn't mean to be rude and I feel terrible."

"It's just that I felt that I gave it its due diligence," the speaker said, according to the Dispatch. "When I thought it was enough I didn't know really how best to do it, so I just said 'amen' and here we go."

Sectarian prayer is certainly allowed before government bodies. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that right in 2014, ruling 5-4 in a case concerning prayer before a town meeting in upstate New York, and in 1983 in a case involving religious invocations before legislative sessions.

But many legislatures or their leaders aim for two things: brevity and an inclusive tone, either employing a staff chaplain who tries to understand common bonds of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, or inviting ministers as guests, as Ohio does, from a variety of faiths.

Yet it was not the Jesus-centric prayer itself that prompted Rosenberger to cut it off, according to Brad Miller, the speaker's spokesman. The only issue was the time, with VanAman exceeding the customary two to four minutes and showing no sign of ending.

"It was not at all about the content," Miller told cleveland.com.

There is an implicit understanding among lawmakers and others that a Christian minister's words in prayer will be guided by his faith, said former Navy Rear Adm. Barry C. Black, the U.S. Senate chaplain and a Seventh-day Adventist. Black said that "most of the people who are hearing me" during opening prayers in the Senate are aware of his Christianity.

But "I seek to make the prayer inclusive," he told cleveland.com. Black said his prayers in the Senate are "nonsectarian in the sense that I don't push any religion or denominational affiliation."

This was the essence of Black's short opening prayer at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday: "Spirit of God, who brought creation out of the void, light from darkness, and order from chaos, may Your Name be praised. Inspire our Senators. Use their daily experiences of joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, victory and defeat for Your glory."

And in Columbus, a guest chaplain, Father Bob Penhallurick of St. Brendan Catholic Church in Hilliard, struck a similar tone Wednesday before the Ohio Senate. "Guide us by your wisdom," he prayed. "Support us by your power. Help us to work for justice for all, but help us to temper that justice with love."

Penhallurick only mentioned Jesus when he ended: "We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen."

By contrast, VanAman's prayer Tuesday before the Ohio House included such phrases as, "Lord Jesus, you are the true light." He referred to "the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ."

And he said, "At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow...and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father... Jesus, you are the author and finisher of our faith."

Was this too much, or just right? What about the length? Should the House speaker have cut him off?

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