PRAYERS DELIVERED AT THE UNITED STATES
SENATE, 2003 (8 PRAYERS)
PRAYER FOR THE SENATE
Monday, January 22, 2003
Rabbi Arnold
GUEST CHAPLAIN
O God, who made a world of
change, you challenged us to change the world.
You gave us dreams of better times, and the power to pursue those
dreams: to do our part to make a difference, and help those dreams come
true. This week we set aside a day to
recall that there are those who seek to kill the dreamers, and thereby kill the
dreams. But we will remember dreamers, and through our work – through the
courage and determination of Americans of all faiths and colors – we will
embrace the dreams that make our nation strong: that make us a force for hope
and freedom throughout the world.
Almighty God, at a time when
others say, around the world, that all is hopeless, that things will never
change, we roll up our sleeves as this session now begins, and remind ourselves
that how we act does matter, and what we do does count. Through our leaders here, through Americans
from sea to shining sea –and of course, through those in our nation's forces
whose faith and courage must sustain them in harm's way--we will keep the
dreams alive: to build a land where liberty will be proclaimed, where justice
rolls like mighty waters, where all shall live in freedom – and, one day, where
none shall be afraid.
And may we say, Amen.
PRAYER FOR THE SENATE
Rabbi Arnold
GUEST CHAPLAIN
Oh God who said, "Let
there be light," we pray our faith—and faiths--in different ways, with
different prayers and customs, but with shared hopes and dreams of better times—can help us see that light,
despite the darkness that sometimes obscures our view.
Almighty God, I remember twenty
years ago, in a foxhole in
And so, we pray that we be
touched, inspired, by the dreams of faiths that make our nation rich; and that
we work with all who share the dream of freedom—and freedom's holy light. Let
us see the danger is not that sometimes faiths see God—see You—in different
ways, but that there are those in every faith who see themselves as gods. Let us keep faith, but let faith keep us, as
well, in its embrace. May faith keep us humble, so that we know our limits,
even as we learn our strength. Then the
time will come when even interfaith foxholes will no longer be required, and we
learn war no more.
And may we say, Amen.
PRAYER FOR THE SENATE
Rabbi Arnold
GUEST CHAPLAIN
Almighty God, this week we
remember nightmares, to reaffirm our dreams.
On this Holocaust Remembrance Day—during this week we've set aside—our
nation recalls victims of the Holocaust: a Holocaust brave Americans took up
arms to fight, and many gave their lives to end. And, so, before this session starts, and
during a time when our brave men and women still risk their lives for better
times, we pray the day will come when
the lesson of this horror—the lessons of all nightmares—help make our
dreams of peace come true.
From the Holocaust we learn:
when human beings deny humanity in others, they destroy humanity within
themselves. When they reject the human
in a neighbor's soul, then they unleash the beast, and the barbaric, in their
own hearts.
And so, remembering, we pray:
if the time has not yet dawned when we can all proclaim our faith in God, then
let us say at least that we admit we are not gods ourselves. If we cannot yet see the face of God in others,
then let us see, at least, a face as human as our own.
You taught us through the
Bible that life might be a blessing or a curse: the choice is in our
hands. So many people, so many peoples,
have felt the curse of life too filled with cruelty, and violence, and
hate. As Americans we pray–we vow–to
keep alive the dream of better times; to keep our faith that we can be, will
be, a force for good; a force for hope; a force for freedom; a blessing, not a
curse–to all our people; to all the world.
And may we say, Amen.
PRAYER FOR THE SENATE
Rabbi Arnold
GUEST CHAPLAIN
O Lord who gives to
everything a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time for war;
a time for peace; a time for life; a time for death; and always time for
hope. We take time now, as this week
starts, and as—we pray—the fighting in Iraq nears its end, to honor those who
serve, who fight, who sacrifice in times of war, so that the time of peace—of
real peace—might be.
We take time now to offer
thanks: for freedoms that are far from free, for they are bought and paid for
at the cost of lives cut short, and family dreams that now can never be; and at
the cost of lives that will be touched and haunted by memories so painful that
most of us give thanks that we will never know, nor ever fully comprehend.
Lord, who gives to everything
a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven, we honor those who gave
their lives; and we honor those who still live and serve, within a world that
knows too well the time of war. And we
honor in a special way their families, those they love and who love them, for
whom the battlefields seem much more close to home.
Give us the faith, the
strength, the wisdom, too, to do our part to bring about the time of peace for
which they fought—and fight; the time of peace for which we pray; the time of
peace, just peace, in which we must keep faith; the world of peace which
we must do our part to build.
And let us say, Amen.
PRAYER FOR THE SENATE
Rabbi Arnold
GUEST CHAPLAIN
O Lord who hears our prayers,
as this session now begins, and before the leaders here debate the issues they
confront, and with which our country and our people struggle, we begin united,
united with a prayer: a reminder that, even as we disagree on one course of
action or the next, we do so in pursuit of common dreams—liberty, dignity, and
freedom—dreams that unite us all.
We sometimes call this
starting prayer an invocation, but it is not your presence we invoke, for you
are always with us, no matter where we are or where we go—as we soar on eagles
wings toward heaven; as we search the deepest reaches of the sea; or as we seek
to balance responsibility and right through the actions taken here in the halls
of congress; we know we find your hand.
Instead, it is awareness of
your presence that we call forth, that we invoke: a reminder of a plan or dream
in which we might play a part; a promise of a better world, a better time, a
time of peace and justice, that we might help to build. May your presence touch our lives and help
shape our words so that we might find the wisdom and the courage to do our part
to keep those dreams alive, and help make those dreams come true.
And may we say, Amen.
PRAYER FOR THE SENATE
Rabbi Arnold
GUEST CHAPLAIN
O Lord who taught us all to
love our neighbors as ourselves, we pause now, before this Senate session
starts, to recall that on this day – in 1881 – and in this city – Washington,
DC – Clara Barton and a group of friends founded the American Red Cross.
To love our neighbor as
ourselves...and then, to not sit idly by that neighbor's blood – the suffering
that he or she endures – without doing what we can to ease the burden and the
pain, has been the call to which so many Red Cross workers have responded since
that day, throughout our land; and reaching out to those who serve in our armed
forces overseas—throughout the world, as well.
Almighty God, we give our
thanks for those who give their all: who do their best to comfort those in
pain.
But we pray as well to be
inspired by their work: to understand we all can make a difference in our
neighbors' lives, a difference in our nation's strength, a difference in our
world. Help us help one another do our
part to build the world of peace, the time of joy, for which we pray.
And may we say, Amen.
PRAYER FOR THE SENATE
Rabbi Arnold
Guest Chaplain
O God who made the rainbows
in the sky, you made our land a rainbow, too: from purple mountain majesties
to amber waves of grain, we
marvel at the colors of our nation, and the beauty of our land.
Today, this week, and
tomorrow in a special way–Flag Week, and June 14, Flag Day–we set aside some
time to honor special colors: the colors of our flag. We celebrate the values
our flag in all its colors and its glory represents, and the memories and
dreams our Stars and Stripes–our Star-Spangled Banner–still invokes. "The grand old flag," as the old
song goes, is still "the emblem of the land I love"—we love–"the
home of the free and the brave."
In a moment we will pledge
our allegiance to the flag—
and to the Republic for which
it stands. As we take that pledge today,
let us make that pledge a prayer. Let us
pray that the colors of our flag, and the true colors of our nation and our
people–our dedication to the cause of liberty and justice for all; our courage
and determination even in the face of adversity; and our faith–are forever
represented by our flag. May it bring
hope of better times to all the citizens of our land, and all the nations of
our world. May it forever wave, o'er the
land of the free, and the home of the brave.
And may we say, Amen.
PRAYER FOR THE SENATE
Rabbi Arnold
Guest Chaplain
Almighty God of freedom, who
gave us the promise and the dream of liberty to be proclaimed throughout the
land, we pause before this session to recall words spoken by a Senate
nominee–Abe Lincoln–on this day, June 16, in 1858. "A nation divided
against itself cannot stand," he said, and we "cannot endure half
slave, half free."
O Lord our God and God of
generations past, we offer thanks for all the progress we have made since that
historic speech, even as we recognize we still have more to do. Slavery, the institution, is no more. But let us unite in our resolve that none
should be enslaved by prejudice or hatred that threatens the humanity and
dignity we've fought to recognize and guarantee; that none, victimized by
ignorance or discrimination, live lives half slave, half free.
Grant us and all our leaders,
the wisdom to debate and disagree, with civility and respect, the issues of the
day. But give us, we pray, the wisdom and the faith we need to safeguard a nation
united, not divided—indivisible, as we pledge—in our pursuit of liberty and
justice for us all.
And may we say, Amen.