WASHINGTON – At the invitation of U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), Pastor Laura Viau of First and Central Presbyterian Church in Wilmington offered the Senate’s opening prayer today as the Senate’s guest chaplain. Her prayer is below:
“Let us pray. Holy One, maker of all places and things, you know more than any of us that we humans are but one part of this complex, interconnected creation, and our lives are but a moment in the vast eternity you govern. As these leaders gather to serve the people today, grant them resolve to lead with humility, courage to speak for the voiceless, and wisdom to see beyond tomorrow. May justice roll, and love abide. Amen.”
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Senator Coons delivered remarks following Pastor Viau’s opening prayer:
“Mr. President, I rise to say a few words about the tradition of spiritual leadership of the chaplains of the Senate: A decades-old – centuries-old, actually – tradition of this body, rooted in the fact that those who were the framers of our Constitution and the Founders of our nation understood that, although we are a nation committed to separation of church and state, we are also a nation that is guided; that is guided by spiritual force, by deep beliefs, by a diversity of religions, but also by a profound humility on the part of those of us who serve.
“Our chaplain, Admiral Barry Black, has served for many, many years, and I’ve had the great blessing of hearing from him at Bible study and at weekly prayer breakfast in a way that has helped bring senators together and that has made a difference in the functioning and the foundation of this important body in our constitutional order.
“Today, we have a guest chaplain from my home church, First and Central Presbyterian in Wilmington, Delaware. She is my home pastor, and Pastor Laura has served our congregation since July, two years ago. A native of Arkansas, raised in Texas in the Disciples of Christ, Pastor Laura felt a calling to the ministry at the very earliest age but told God to, ‘just hold that thought for a moment.’ Two decades later, He called Pastor Laura again – more forcefully this time – and through my denomination, the Presbyterian Church, United States of America, or PCUSA. After completing seminary in Iowa and serving three other ministry calls, Pastor Laura is now at our faith community in downtown Wilmington, doing God’s work at a church without walls that welcomes without limits. Her humor, her hermeneutics, her exegesis, her homiletics – all the good stuff that a pastor does – help hold us together and inspire us to mission at a time that is almost uniquely challenging in my life. I am so grateful for her wisdom and guidance at home in Delaware, and I thank Pastor Laura for her ministry – today to this body, to our congregation at home, and throughout the arc of her life.”