[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 430]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin, offered the following 
prayer:
  To You, O Lord God, belong all glory and praise. You fashioned a 
Nation out of the diverse people You brought forth to this land, as You 
did the ancient people of Israel.
  As out of a desert You led them to this promised land where they 
declared their independence and constituted from their diversity a new 
Nation.
  Founded upon inalienable rights given to us by You, our Creator, we 
glory to this very day in our freedom.
  Now that these freedoms are under attack, we seek again Your 
protection, Lord, and Your guidance.
  Renew in us the adoption by Your Spirit, that we may affirm our 
freedom, not only with the conviction in the way we understand others, 
but in ourselves by actions proven beyond words.
  May the freedom of assembly for worship we enjoyed this weekend be 
reinvigorated in the entire citizenry of this country, that we may be 
true witnesses of this freedom's importance to the world, and come to 
love You with all our strength, now and forever. Amen.

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