[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 8125]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

  The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, offered the following prayer:
  Let us pray.
  God of grace, glory, and power, the battle belongs to You. Thank You 
that though the storms rage, we can still anchor our hopes in Your 
might. Lord, we hear the sounds of conflict as people imagine vain 
things about Your loving providence. Forgive us for our fear of the 
future when we forget how You have led us in the past. Forgive us also 
for our haste to paint a caricature of the many because of the 
pathology of the few. Remind us that fierce winds bring no anxiety to 
those who keep their eyes on You.
  Lord, the challenges that we face are too complex for human reasoning 
alone, so imbue our leaders with Your wisdom that they may know the 
road to take. Sustain those who courageously bear the weight of combat 
and battle the fog of armed conflict. We praise You for the joy of 
those who are experiencing reunion with loved ones who have been 
rescued from danger. But we ask that You would bring comfort to those 
who mourn and to those who know the terror of anticipatory grief.
  And, Lord, we pray also for our enemies, that they may know the 
clarity of Your will. Carve tunnels of hope through mountains of 
despair and let the peace we seek in our world be conceived first in 
our hearts. Hasten the day when we will lay down our swords and shields 
and study war no more.
  We pray this in the name of the Prince of Peace. Amen.

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