[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 5171]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

  The guest Chaplain offered the following prayer:
  Gracious God, accept our thanks and praise for all that You have done 
for us. We thank You for the splendor of creation, for the beauty of 
this world, and for the wonder of life. We thank You for the blessing 
of living in this Nation and for the freedoms we enjoy. We thank You 
for the men and women of the Senate, both the Senators and their 
staffs. We are grateful for the sacrifices they make in order to serve 
the people of this Nation faithfully and in accordance with Your will.
  We thank You also, Lord, for setting the people of our Nation and our 
Senators at tasks which demand our best efforts, and for leading us to 
accomplishments which satisfy and delight us. We thank You also for 
those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our 
dependence on You alone.
  Bless our Senators this day and in all the days ahead, that they may 
enact such laws as shall please You, O God, and further the welfare of 
Your people. Give all who labor in this great institution a zeal for 
justice and the strength of forbearance that they may help the people 
of this Nation to use our liberty rightly, in accordance with Your 
gracious will. Amen.

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