c. 1996 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)-Over coffee and croissants, thousands of elected officials, diplomats and other leaders mixed politics, prayer and patriotism Thursday (Feb. 1) at the 43rd annual National Prayer Breakfast.

Nearly 4,000 invited guests filled a Washington Hilton ballroom to overflowing to hear President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Shalikashvili, and other dignitaries talk about their faith and how it relates to the nation’s political future.

The bipartisan event is sponsored by members of Congress who hold weekly private Senate and House prayer breakfasts.

Clinton drew his comments from the New Testament book of Galatians, which speaks of bearing one’s own burdens as well as those of others.”I think being personally responsible and reaching out to others are the two sides of humanity’s coin,”Clinton said.”And we cannot live full lives, we cannot be enlarged, unless we do both.” Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., the event’s keynote speaker, called on leaders in politics and other fields to take on a servant mentality.”May we who compete in the political arena … remember we are commanded to pray for our enemies,”said Nunn.”May we who depend on publicity as our daily bread recall that when we do a secret kindness to others and when we don’t try to tell everyone, then our Father who knows all of our secrets will reward us.” Nunn called on citizens to help their representatives in Washington.”While we need their critiques, we also desperately need their prayers,”said Nunn.”May we never forget the final judgment of our tenure here on earth will not be decided by majority vote and that an election is not required to bring us home.” The breakfast was missing at least one luminary this year: evangelist Billy Graham.

Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, the master of ceremonies, read a letter of regret from the ailing Graham, who missed the prayer breakfast for only the third time.”I deeply regret that my doctors … have urged me not to attend the meeting today,”Graham wrote.”… I am going to greatly miss it.” Graham, who was beset by health problems last year, is recovering from a fall in December in which he broke several ribs.

Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun, D-Ill., led a prayer for international and national leaders in Graham’s stead.

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