Reverend Joseph A. Darby
Morris Brown African Methodist Episcopal Church
Charleston, South Carolina
Date of Prayer: 05/15/2003
Opening Prayer Given by the Guest Chaplain:
Gracious, merciful and omnipotent creator, we thank You for this new day; for Your grace, for your wisdom and for Your mercy; we thank You for the blessing of democracy; and for bringing us safely to this present hour.
Bless and guide all that is said and done in this deliberative body. Bless the Members of the House with Your judgment, Your strength and Your compassion, so that they will make decisions with an eye not towards what is politically convenient, but towards what is right for all Americans.
Bless our world and keep all nations in perfect peace. Bless our nation, so that what Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature” will prevail. Bless our leadership at all levels, so that public policy will be made in the light of the truth that shall indeed make us free.
Have mercy upon us and help us to celebrate the diversity of our unity and the unity of our diversity. Let the words of Your servant Amos be reflected in the decisions made here, so that justice will roll on like a river, so that righteousness will flow like a never failing stream, so that we can really become one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all. Amen.
To learn more about Members who have sponsored a Guest Chaplain, please visit the Congressional Biographical Directory