[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 23345]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 23345]]

             CONGRESSIONAL RECORD 

                United States
                 of America


September 30, 1999


         HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES--Thursday, September 30, 1999

  The House met at 10 a.m.

  The Reverend Darrell Darling, United Methodist Church, Santa Cruz, 
California, offered the following prayer:

  I offer this prayer in the Spirit of God, that spirit which was in 
our son, brother and colleague, Adam.

  Gracious God, Father Creator, Mother Sustainer, as my universe grows 
infinitely larger, may my loyalty to beloved friends grow dearer. As 
the world becomes exponentially complex, may my passion for the truth 
fathom its extremities. As the pursuit of peace grows costly and 
elusive, steel my resolve.

  Temper my candor with kindness, my directness with humor. Guard me 
from the temptation to substitute personal devotion for the simple 
truth and save me from sacrificing the life or character of one friend 
or foe for abstract principle or selfish ambition. Make me at home with 
prime ministers and farm workers alike in order that power may be less 
arrogant and the humble may know the power of their true worth.

  May I take no notice of another's deliberate smallness, nor make one 
decision from fear, nor withhold my resources in stinginess. In defeat 
liberate me in expansive faithfulness, and in victory deliver me from 
devaluing large principles by personal meanness.

  Let me spurn public accolades that I may be truly honorable. And, in 
the end, may I be swept away in the infinite, fierce tenderness of Your 
true love. Amen.

                          ____________________