[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 129 (Thursday, September 24, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S10865]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

  The guest Chaplain, Rev. Madison T. Shockley II, of Congregational 
Church of Christian Fellowship, United Church of Christ, Los Angeles, 
CA, offered the following prayer:
  Good morning, Senators. Please join me in a word of prayer.
  Dear God of all, though You look upon Your creation and see our world 
without the borders we draw or the barriers we erect, hear the cry of 
Your people in this corner of Your great universe. We implore You on 
behalf of the men and women who govern these United States of America 
as Senators to grant to them wisdom, justice, mercy, and love in 
quantities not common to humankind. For, indeed, the task they share 
and the burden they bear is not a common one. Charged as they are to 
lead a Nation which stands out among all the nations of the world, the 
very fate of this planet is altered by what they do.
  Mighty and ever loving God, You have been so gracious to us, we 
cannot begin to express our gratitude for the rich resources of fertile 
land, refreshing rivers, and majestic forests with which You have 
blessed this Nation. All this is magnified by the fact that no merit of 
ours has earned these blessings--no merit. For who can claim merit in 
the presence of Your divine goodness? Who can claim merit before Your 
sublime righteousness? And so with these awesome blessings come great 
responsibility. For You have instructed us that ``From the one to whom 
much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded''. --Luke 12:48.
  Sovereign Spirit, help the Senators hear Your demand upon a people of 
freedom to seek liberation for all; a people of wealth to seek 
prosperity for everyone; a people of justice to seek righteousness for 
all. May all gathered here execute their office with mercy, love, and 
compassion. May this august assembly seek to share the blessings of 
this Nation with all of its people and even with those who do not share 
this badge of our citizenship but who still are our brothers and 
sisters whom You have commanded us to love and who share in that larger 
circle of the whole human family of which You are the one Divine 
Parent.
  Let us all say--amen.

                          ____________________