[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 129 (Thursday, September 24, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H8535]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 PRAYER

  The Reverend A. David Agro, Capitol Hill United Methodist Church, 
Washington, D.C., offered the following prayer:
  O God of Abraham and Sarah, Hagar and Ishmael, Isaac and Rebekah, 
Esau and Jacob, Leah and Rachel, Zilpah and Bilhah, we ask for Your 
faithful presence in this place with these Your people who like our 
forebears chart the way for many. Enable these servants to follow Your 
call like Abraham and Sarah to a new land that You will show in order 
that we too may be a great nation. Hear, O God, the voice of those in 
the wilderness as You did Hagar and Ishmael and speak Your words of 
reassurance even as You guide decisions for the sake of those who are 
outcast and crying for justice. Grant courage that the wrestling in 
this Chamber will be marked by the fortitude of Rachel and Jacob in 
their struggle for new life and with familiar issues. May Your face be 
seen, O God, like Jacob, in the face of our brother and sister as we 
give thanks for the blessings received from Your hand. Amen.

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