Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff, Captain, Chaplain Corps, U.S. Navy (Retired) opened the April 28, 2003,
Senate Session with the following prayer:
Oh God who made the world and said that it was good, we pray our faith--and faiths--can help
us see that good, despite the bad that sometimes blocks our way. Oh God who said, "Let there
be light," we pray our 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 Beirut: I looked around at others
in the bunker, and had a simple thought: "We Americans," I said, "must have the only
interfaith foxholes in the whole Mid-East. And then I thought, that if more foxholes had room
for those of different faiths, we'd need less room for foxholes--and have more room for faith.
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 shrae 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
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 let us say, Amen.