[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 16690-16691]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             SENATE PRAYERS

  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, my thanks to the majority leader this 
morning. Before I say a few words about Rev. Gregory Knox Jones, I want 
to go back in time for a couple of minutes. I was talking to the pages 
out in the hall behind the leader about how when our country was first 
settled folks came here from all over the world. They came here in part 
in pursuit of religious freedom. They were people of different faiths. 
They wanted to be able to worship God as they saw fit.
  When it got really tough in Philadelphia at the Constitutional 
Convention--trying to wrestle with issues such as slavery, rights of 
women, whether there should be little States, big States, how we were 
going to be represented here--many times the Founding Fathers hit the 
pause button and they called in a person of faith to pray, to help them 
to find a way to progress, and they did again and again.
  When George Washington was inaugurated--not here but in New York 
City--at the end of the day they did not go off and have big parties; 
they actually went to church. In the early days of our country, worship 
services were actually held here, as some of us know. We start every 
day here in the Senate with a prayer, oftentimes delivered by retired 
Navy ADM Barry C. Black, our Chaplain, and today with a special guest, 
my pastor, Gregory Knox Jones from Westminster Presbyterian Church.
  Our leader Harry Reid has run a number of marathons. As it happens, 
so has our guest. He is a long-distance runner, literally and 
figuratively. He just ran his 10th marathon. He ran the New York 
Marathon on Sunday--I might say in good time. He won in the category of 
White men over 50 who pastor large Presbyterian churches on the east 
coast and who were former team captains from the Kansas State 
University football team. That category he won hands down. I 
congratulate him, and I am sure my colleagues do as well.
  He reminds us every Sunday of the idea that we have a moral 
imperative to look out for the least of those in our society, people 
who are hungry and need to be fed, people who have no health care. We 
have an obligation to look after them. He reminds us every Sunday that 
we have an obligation to look out for not only those who are in our 
community in Wilmington, DE, but way beyond our borders, such as those 
in Guatemala and also those who live in Israel and the West Bank of 
Jordan, to make sure justice is done in those places as well.
  He reminds us every Sunday of the Golden Rule for our neighbor: Treat 
others the way we want to be treated. We have to focus on the poor, 
widows and the orphans, and those who are in need. He reminds us to not 
just talk a good game but to actually deliver on our words. What does 
it say in James 2? You show me your faith by your words, I will show 
you my faith by my deeds. He reminds us of that every Sunday.
  To my colleagues, he reminds us we are servants. There is a great 
sermon in Mark chapter 10. The words are, as I recall--I will 
paraphrase him--for those who want to be a leader, you have to be a 
slave to all. For those who want to become first, you must become last.
  We thank you for those remembrances.
  Every week I go to a Bible study led by our Chaplain. On Sundays I 
try to show up in our own church. It reminds me of a double shot. You 
and I, Mr. President, are about the same age. We remember the days of 
Motown, the great song called ``Double Shot of My Baby's Love.'' Every 
week I get a double shot of God's love from these two, my pastor and 
our Chaplain.
  To his life partner Camilla and three children and six grandchildren, 
we are honored you are here.
  I want to close with the way he closes our sermons every Sunday, 
colleagues. He does it with these words. I hope I have them right. It 
goes something like this. When he lets us go and dismisses his flock he 
says these words: May the love of God, the grace of Christ, and the 
fellowship of the Holy Spirit bless you, those you love, and the ones 
that no one loves.
  And the ones that no one loves. He sends us on our way. Those are 
great words for us today as well. We welcome him.
  I thank the leader for allowing me to say these words this morning.

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