[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 17308]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

  The guest Chaplain, the Very Reverend Nathan Baxter, offered the 
following prayer:
  Let us pray: Almighty, holy, and gracious God, we know You by many 
names, but we are joined together in this moment of prayer because we 
know You as the author of liberty. We thank You for the gift of 
democracy. Although it is sometimes cumbersome, it is truly inspired, 
and we thank You. Most of all, gracious God, we thank You for the 
Members of our United States Senate and their staffs who devote 
themselves to the hard and essential work of Government. Momentous for 
the people of this Nation are the decisions before them in this 
session. We ask You to give them courage to act rightly when partisan 
passions beckon; give them patience and discerning answers when truth 
is not clear; and give them faith to trust You as more than their judge 
but their loving Father. Now help us, Lord, as citizens of this Nation, 
to hold our leaders, their staffs, their work, and their families 
prayerfully in our hearts that they may be sustained and protected. And 
finally, ever keep before them and us the guiding light of Your divine 
vision of one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice 
for all. Amen.

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