[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 8623]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin, offered the following 
prayer:
  This faithless generation looks to You for a sign, Lord God. Your 
Word once came to Jeremiah with the question: ``What do you see, 
Jeremiah?'' The prophet replied: ``I see a branch of the watching 
tree.'' Then, Lord, You said to him: ``Well have you seen, for I am 
watching to fulfill my Word.''
  Lord, we keep watching on television a distant war, looking for signs 
of its ending. In our prayer we ponder Your Word, waiting for its 
fulfillment of peace.
  Suddenly, the subtlety of Your language, Lord, reveals a hidden 
meaning. The Hebrew name for the almond tree contains a play on words 
with ``I am watching.''
  With us and in us You keep vigil for a springtime of promise, for the 
almond tree got its name as the watching tree because it is the first 
to blossom in the early rise of spring, as though it had never been 
sleeping.
  Lord, You have been watching with us. You are with us, now and 
forever.
  Amen.

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