Clinton Prays During Service at National Cathedral

President Clinton offered a “prayer for the new millennium” in behalf of the nation during services Sunday at Washington National Cathedral, giving thanks “for the promise of the new century” and asking divine guidance “in helping us to make the most of it.”

Clinton was accompanied by his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who also read parts of “Prayers of the People,” the communal petitions offered at each worship service. Nearly 900 people, including six Cabinet members, filled the cathedral.

The Clintons had attended funerals and Christmas Eve services at the cathedral, seat of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. But Sunday was the first time any president had taken an active part in services there, cathedral spokesman Bob Beckett said.

In his prayer, Clinton said, in part:

“We thank you for the amazing grace you have shown in getting us through and beyond our individual and collective sins and trials. Through the darkest hours of the 20th century, the shameful trauma of racial oppression, the pain and sacrifice of war, the fear and deprivation of depression, when all we could do was walk by faith, it was your guiding light that saw us through.”