Reverend Whit W. Grace
First United Methodist Church
Long Beach, MS
Sponsor: Rep. Rep. Gene Taylor, (D-MS)
Date of Prayer: 05/16/2001
One Minute Speech Given in Recognition of the Guest Chaplain:
Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, today we are privileged to have been joined by Reverend Whit Grace , who is the pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Long Beach, Mississippi.
I have to confess it was not until I was elected to Congress that I fully appreciated just how tough a job our priests and preachers and rabbis and ministers have.
See, Mr. Speaker, I have discovered that when something goes wrong, the local Congressmen usually are the second or the third call. The first call is to the local priest or the preacher and minister. It has to be an incredibly tough job when all you do is hear someone has gotten in trouble with the law or someone is ill or someone has just died or someone is near death.
So, Reverend, for what you do and for what all of our priests and preachers do on a daily basis, to listen to our problems and to help as best as you can, to ask for divine intervention, I want to thank you, and I want to thank everyone who chose to serve our Nation in the ministry.
Opening Prayer Given by the Guest Chaplain:
Almighty Father, Wonderful Counselor, we come to You this morning as mere people whom You have chosen to be Your vessel in this place of power. We come from different backgrounds and different places, yet we are joined together for a united goal. This goal will allow You to lead our nation in a way which will bring a sense of opportunity to each one of our citizens. The work which we do in this chamber will effect the lives of people we may never see. O that God would bless us and enlarge our border, and that Your hand might be with us and that You would keep us from hurt and harm. At the end of the day, allow our thoughts and our work not to be pleasing to parties or certain groups, but pleasing to You, Almighty Father.
To learn more about Members who have sponsored a Guest Chaplain, please visit the Congressional Biographical Directory