[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16645]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

  The guest Chaplain, Father Thomas Acker, offered the following 
prayer:
  Let us pray:
  Heavenly Father, from whom each of us comes and to whom each of us 
must return, we daily finger the coins of our realm. On each coin of 
this Republic is inscribed our invocation, our prayer, and our 
petition: ``In God We Trust.'' ``If You Yahweh, do not build the house, 
in vain the mason's toil: If You Yahweh, do not guard the city, in vain 
the sentrys watch.''--Psalm 127. Even as we hold this prayerful coin in 
our fingers, we acknowledge that You hold us in the palm of Your hand. 
Lord, in You we trust.
  We open this deliberative day of Senate life, this last Thursday of 
July, the month of our independence, assured that You watch over us; 
indeed, we are the apple of Your eye. Bring Your light to our 
deliberations, Your wisdom to our decisions, Your peace to our 
outcomes. May the seed that we plant be like the tiny mustard seed, 
growing strong of stem, bountiful in branches, and laden with good 
fruit.
  The Senators, men and women of leadership, bow their heads before 
You, and ask Your blessing. Lord of the Universe, in both faith and 
humility, the Senators pray: Prosper the work of our hands, prosper the 
work of our hands. In God we trust. Amen.

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