[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 109 (Tuesday, July 23, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S8493]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

  The Chaplain, Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie, offered the following prayer:
  The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great 
in mercy.
  The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His 
works.--Psalm 145:8-9.
  Gracious God, who gives us so much more than we deserve in blessings 
and withholds what we deserve for our lack of faithfulness and 
obedience, we praise You for Your loving kindness and mercy. With a 
fresh realization of Your unqualified grace to us, we recognize our 
need to be to the people of our lives what You have been to us and to 
give mercy as we have received it so generously from You. We think of 
people who need our forgiveness, another chance, encouragement, and 
affirmation. Often we punish people with our purgatorial pouts, leaving 
them to wonder about what they can do to regain our approval. Dear 
Father, help us to be agents of reconciliation and renewal. May grace 
overcome our grudges and joy diffuse our judgments. May this be a day 
of new beginnings in which we are initiative in reaching out to one 
another in genuine friendship. We ask Your blessing and power upon this 
Senate, particularly today with the multiplicity of votes ahead. Guide 
and direct, O great God. In the name of Jesus who taught us how to love 
You and to love one another. Amen.

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