Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

Pastor Harold Sumner of Roanoke Valley Christian Church delivers the invocation Monday afternoon at the first city council meeting of the year.

The Rev. Harold Sumner mentioned Jesus while leading a Roanoke City Council meeting in prayer Monday. And he says amen to that -- even though some might object.

"I'm a Christian and the Bible teaches prayer in Jesus' name. I believe that's the way it should be," said Sumner, pastor of Roanoke Valley Christian Church, an independent congregation in Northwest Roanoke.

Maybe, but Roanoke Vice Mayor Sherman Lea sparked criticism when he referred to Jesus Christ during a prayer that opened a council meeting on Dec. 15. Lea's invocation raised the ire of at least one person who, in an e-mail to council members, called the prayer "illegal and offensive to the many religions in Roanoke City." Lea, who is also a minister, then asked to be removed from a rotation of clergy used to give the opening prayer at council meetings.

Sumner said that he was aware of the controversy over Lea's prayer, but he asserted his invocation on Monday wasn't meant to challenge critics of the earlier entreaty.

"I just did what I was asked to do," said Sumner. He said he was invited to give the invocation "by city council," but he couldn't remember specifically who asked him.

Governmental prayers have been a hot-button issue this year. In July, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's decision that Hashmel Turner, a Baptist minister and member of the Fredericksburg City Council, did not have a right to say a sectarian prayer to open council meetings. Lawyers for Turner are now trying to get the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.

Lea's prayer didn't actually mention Jesus by name. But his invocation included several Christian references, referring to the "high and holy name of your son."

After the council meeting on Monday, Lea defended Sumner's right to pray in his chosen way: "You can't stop a citizen. You've got people coming in, praying to whomever. You can't control that, even though you may send them some guidelines. There's nothing you can do to avoid that."

But Kent Willis, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union office in Richmond, said the Supreme Court and other judicial panels have ruled against sectarian prayers being official parts of government meetings, no matter who delivers them.

"The Supreme Court has said that when there's a prayer, at that moment that person speaks for the government. He was invited to speak for and represent the Roanoke city government, and the prayer must be nonsectarian because the government can't endorse one religion over another."

Willis added that a pastor who is scheduled as part of the meeting agenda "becomes the voice of government."

One possible exception to the sectarian prayer prohibition, Willis said, would be if a nonofficial spoke during a general public comment session. "They could say something about Jesus on their own; they would speaking to the government, not for it."

City Attorney Bill Hackworth said last week, in response to Lea's prayer, that the issue can be a messy one. Hackworth did not elaborate specifically about his opinion on Lea's prayer during an interview last week, nor on Sumner's prayer on Monday.

Sumner, interviewed by phone at his home after the council meeting, was emphatic that he had done the right thing by specifically beseeching Jesus: "That's the way prayer should be according to the New Testament." His prayer opened the afternoon session, which began at 2 p.m.

Earlier, before Sumner arrived, the council was served a catered lunch of buffet-style barbecue sandwiches and fixings. Mayor David Bowers said grace, but preceded it with this line: "Let me hazard to say a blessing over our meal ... that would be as best as I can determine acceptable under the law."