[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 18 (Thursday, January 29, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S1007]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

   The PRESIDING OFFICER. Today's prayer will be offered by Rabbi 
Daniel J. Fellman, Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple, New Brunswick, NJ.
  The guest Chaplain offered the following prayer:
  We arrive this morning filled with thanks to our Creator who endows 
each of us with inalienable rights; to our founding leaders who joined 
those rights with responsibilities for ourselves and our fellow 
citizens; to the people of our Nation for entrusting us with awe-
inspiring duties; to each other as we endeavor to maintain civility, 
striving for dignity and high purpose in conducting the people's 
business.
  Today and every day, let us strive to fill this Chamber with 
humanity, humility, and hope, honoring our Nation's past while honing 
our unique yet shared understanding of the future's ever-present call.
  As we turn to the business of the people, remind us that we have not 
come into being to hate or to destroy but, rather, we have come into 
being to praise, to labor, and to love.
  With gratitude in our souls, we turn to the source of all, seeking 
blessing for ourselves, our families, our endeavors.
  May we be guided by the light of the Lord, and may we be of the 
generation who shines that light for all to see.
  And let us live the words of our first President: ``May the Father of 
all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us 
all in our several vocations useful here, and in his or her own due 
time and way, everlastingly happy.''
  Amen.

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