[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 35 (Sunday, March 20, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H1699]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 PRAYER

  The Reverend Dr. Donald F. Christian, Pastor, Evangelical Lutheran 
Church in America, Fairfax, Virginia, offered the following prayer:
  Almighty God, we believe that the hopes and the fears of all the 
years are met in You this day.
  The hopes that peace will reign.
  The hopes that health will be maintained.
  The hopes that all may find a place to call home.
  The hopes that firm justice will be accompanied by reasonable mercy.
  But our fears are also met in You, O God.
  The fears of most that conflict will never abate.
  The fears of many that health will be taken and with it wealth which 
will leave us destitute and destroyed.
  The fears of some that work and wages will be lost and they will be 
homeless.
  The fears of a few that there is more justice for some than for 
others.
  So we pray, O God.
  Use the words and the works of all called to be decision makers, so 
that the terrorized may always have a voice; the suffering may always 
have an advocate; the laborer will always find a place to call home; 
and mercy will be meted out in equal measure with justice for all and 
prejudice towards none. Amen.

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