The Congressional Prayer Breakfast
THE CONGRESSIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST -- (House of Representatives - July 18, 2005)
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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate this opportunity very much. I thank the gentleman from Nebraska for coming up with the idea of our doing this.
I think there are a lot of misconceptions about Congress. People think from the media, and I am not sure from where else, that we are a bunch of people who go out at night with lobbyists and carry on, and a lot of people do not have an idea that we do have this prayer breakfast every Thursday morning. I think that it is very important that we share as broad a perspective on what we do here in Congress as we possibly can.
There are 435 Members in the House of Representatives, and I think one of the best things that our prayer breakfast does is give us a chance to get to know people that we would not have an opportunity to get to know otherwise. As we have all pointed out, and others will too, it is bipartisan, and that is one of the better parts of the breakfast. Because most of the time, we do meet by party and talk with people by party, and it is very difficult to get to know people of the other party unless you are serving with them on a committee. But this gives us an opportunity, as my colleague said earlier, to get to know people in a way that we would not get to know them otherwise.
It is a very structured meeting that we have in many ways. We are blessed that we have scripture reading brought to us by the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Cleaver) who does a wonderful job every week. I will have to say that many of us think when we go to church and hear a sermon, if it is a good sermon, the preacher is preaching right at us; and I think that I have been amazed at our scripture reading and the message that he brings every week. It seems always to hit the spot for me. So I am very grateful for that. We do a lot of praying and we do a lot of music. We sing. And we have been very blessed to have had the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Akin) lead our music this time, and it has been some of the most vigorous music that I have had a chance to participate in. I am very, very grateful for that.
As the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) said earlier, our Founding Fathers turned to God in prayer at the most difficult times of the founding of this Nation. And they did set a pattern for us, a pattern that I am pleased that we are continuing here by every day opening this session with a prayer but, again, encouraging us to get together to pray.
In addition to our having scripture and prayer and music, we also have someone who reminds us of the sick and wounded. When I thought about speaking tonight, I realized that is basically the only place where we are gathered together where we take the time to remember those amongst us who are having problems. I want to say I am very grateful for the group. My husband recently had surgery and our group prayed for him very vigorously, and I think those prayers meant a lot in terms of God bringing him through that in a very successful way.
We need our prayer breakfast. Those of us who go there need it. We call it the best hour of the week. It provides a grounding for us. It helps us remember what is important about life. We are here to do important work.
I remember once when I was in the legislature, somebody said to a group of us that we were important people; and one of the Members said, no, we are not important people; we are just ordinary people doing important work. And I think by going to our prayer breakfast on a regular basis, we understand we are not important people, but we are ordinary people doing important work and doing it with the values and the morals that I think that the people of this country expect us to have.
I am very grateful for those who have kept the prayer breakfast going over the years and made it possible for those of us who are there now. I hope that our sharing tonight a little bit about our prayer breakfast will help break some of the misconceptions that people might have about us and give a broader viewpoint about how we spend our days in Congress and what we focus on.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Nebraska (Coach OSBORNE) for organizing this Special Order, and I thank the gentleman for the leadership that he provides to us at the prayer breakfast.
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