[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 17572]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

  The Chaplain, Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie, offered the following prayer:
  Almighty God, Sovereign of this Nation, as You guided our Founding 
Fathers to establish the separation of church and state to protect the 
church from the intrusion of government, rather than the intrusion of 
the church into government, we praise You that in Your providential 
plan for this Nation there is to be no separation of God and state. 
With gratitude we declare our motto: ``In God We Trust.'' It is with 
reverence that, in a moment, we will repeat the words of commitment as 
part of our Pledge of Allegiance to our flag: ``One nation under God, 
indivisible.''
  May these words never become so familiar by repetition that we lose 
our profound sense of awe and wonder, or our feeling of accountability 
and responsibility to place our trust in You, to seek Your guidance in 
all decisions, and make patriotism an essential expression of our 
relationship with You. We praise You for Your truth spelled out in our 
Bill of Rights and our Constitution. Help us not to take for granted 
the freedom we enjoy, nor the call You sound in our souls for 
righteousness in every aspect of our Nation. We repent for any moral 
decay in our culture, any contradiction of Your commandments in our 
society, and any reluctance to be faithful to You in our personal 
lives.
  Wake us up and then stir us up with a fresh realization of the unique 
role You have given this Nation to exemplify what it means to be a 
blessed nation because we humble ourselves before You and exalt You as 
our only Sovereign. You are our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

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