[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 97 (Thursday, June 27, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H6975]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 PRAYER

  The Reverend Dr. Ronald F. Christian, Evangelical Lutheran Church in 
America, Washington, DC., offered the following prayer:
  Almighty God, we acknowledge this day our dependence upon Your 
gracious care and mercy. Faced with great personal loss and national 
pain, our thoughts always turn to You seeking Your solace and comfort. 
We do so again today, O Lord.
  In the comings and goings of our lives, it is appropriate that we 
pause, remember, and give thanks for families and friends of those in 
our national family who are brought home on their last journey this 
day. Oh God, grant Your mercy to those who now rest from their labors 
and to all who mourn. And, for the life and work of Bill Emerson, we 
give You thanks and seek that same mercy.
  May all of our days for all of us be so numbered before You that our 
efforts for good will be untiring, that our concern for justice will 
never waver, and that our work for peace be forever urgent and 
steadfastly determined. Amen.

                          ____________________