[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 24420]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

  The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, offered the following prayer:
  Let us pray.
  O, God of light shining in darkness, O, God of hope lifting from 
despair, we turn our thoughts to what You have done in our lives, what 
You are doing, and what You promised to do in the days to come. Let our 
gratitude for Your grace rise up in joy and praise to Your throne.
  Lord, use the talents of our lawmakers for Your purposes. Inspire 
them to dedicate their abilities to You to be used in faithful service. 
Show them how to maximize their opportunities to bring justice, 
equality, and peace to our Nation and world. Empower them to enable 
justice to prevail over injustice, reconciliation to replace conflict, 
and caring to replace apathy. Lord, give them a sense of destiny and a 
deep dependence on Your guidance. Strengthen their desire to have 
congruity between beliefs and behavior as they seek to live worthy of 
their privilege.
  We pray in the Redeemer's Name. Amen.

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