[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19088]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  The Reverend Betsy Singleton, Pastor, Quapaw Quarter United Methodist 
Church, Little Rock, Arkansas, offered the following prayer:
  God, this time of year, in this particular year, when hometown fairs 
are judging jams and bannered booths tout candidates with free bumper 
stickers, we hold our opinions fervently, our convictions with less 
compromise, each vote with care.
  We confess that we are a people of preferences, each as unique as 
squares on a blue ribbon quilt stitched together by someone who favored 
cotton print over synthetics.
  Daily, God, there are choices in this democracy, choices that lead us 
to debate, delay, exhaustion, hope. And then, together, we speak for 
the people who send us to represent them, the ones who, last weekend, 
got together in that small American town we call ``Home''--the fireman, 
the teacher, the homemaker, the beauty queen, the clown, the cowboy--
and held the annual parade down Main Street, because out of many, they 
believe we really are one.
  Today, God, may we be one. Amen.

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