[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 27 (Wednesday, March 5, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H727]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 PRAYER

  The Reverend Douglas Tanner, executive director, Faith and Politics 
Institute, Washington, DC, offered the following prayer:

  Almighty God, our creator, sustainer, and redeemer: We come before 
You mindful of what You require of us * * * to do justice, to love 
kindness, and to walk humbly with You. Yet we know that these are 
hardly the hallmarks of political life. We confuse justice with 
vengeance; we mistake kindness for weakness; we favor running proudly 
over walking humbly.
  We know that we have been chosen as representatives, but we are often 
unsure about whether to seek to represent the best that is within our 
constituents and within ourselves, or to settle for the easier task of 
representing the baser instincts that reside within all of us.
  Strengthen us. Give us the wisdom to recognize the qualities You 
require of Your servants, and grant us this day, we pray, the courage 
to risk embodying those qualities in an environment that often 
mitigates against it. Amen.

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