[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17016]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  The Reverend Richard A. Lord, Rector, Church of the Holy Comforter, 
Vienna, Virginia, offered the following prayer:
  Most gracious and ever-living God, You have brought us in safety to 
the beginning of this new day. In this quiet moment we humbly 
acknowledge Your presence in our lives and in our world. O God, we are 
thankful for the sheer wonder and mystery of human life, for the gifts 
of memory, reason and skill that shape our common work, and for the 
hope that our deliberations and decisions on this day will unfold 
against the background of Your loving design. Give us forbearance and 
mutual respect for one another. Help us to perceive what is noble and 
good, and grant us both the courage to pursue it and the grace to 
accomplish it to the glory of Your name and the welfare of all people.
  Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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