[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11923]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  The Reverend Dr. Peter M. Kurowski, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 
California, Missouri, offered the following prayer:
  Let us pray. Lord God, enlighten us to see that unless You build the 
house, in vain the artisans toil; and unless You stand sentry upon a 
nation, in vain do our guardians watch. Open our eyes to see Your 
awesome fingerprints in creation, Your amazing footprints in the realm 
of redemption, and Your architectural imprints upon the documents which 
helped to give birth to this Republic. May these revelations move 
citizens everywhere to walk humbly, do justice, and show compassion. 
Inspire a desire in Americans everywhere to absorb the Biblical book of 
Ecclesiastes so that as a nation we do not repeat the melancholy 
moments in history. We ask this in the name of the Wisdom of the ages, 
the Saviour of sinners, Jesus Christ. Amen.

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