[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 71 (Wednesday, May 1, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2536-S2537]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         National Day of Prayer

  Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, every President since 1952 has signed a 
national declaration declaring a National Day of Prayer. It is 
bipartisan cooperation to recognize people who pray and who set aside 
time to spend time with God and pray for the Nation. Quite frankly, for 
us as a party and as a body and as a nation, it is a good thing to 
pause.
  This year, on May 2, with the theme ``Love One Another,'' we will 
again have a National Day of Prayer. There is not a requirement for 
Americans to pray. There is not a requirement for people to direct 
themselves to pray by a certain method at a certain location. It is 
just a call to the Nation to say that we have great needs as a country.
  As we watch the attacks on synagogues in our country, as we watch 
bombings of Christians in Sri Lanka, gun battles that have erupted in 
churches in the United States, mosques that have been attacked, people 
of faith being targeted simply because of their faith, it is reasonable 
for us as a nation to pause and say ``How are we doing?'' as this 
year's theme is ``Love One Another.''
  We as a nation have a long history of prayer. Hanging in the Rotunda 
in this Capitol Building is a painting called the Embarkation of the 
Pilgrims. That painting depicts the beginning of America. It has been 
hanging in that same spot in the Rotunda since 1843. The painting is 
simply of a group of people on a deck of a ship leaving out from Europe 
and huddled around an open Bible and praying. The painting was designed 
and created to depict how America began in the 1600s--people on the 
deck of a ship, around an open Bible, praying.
  That is still something I would encourage Americans of faith to stop 
and do, and it is still one of the most humbling experiences that I 
experience each time someone from my State of Oklahoma catches me, as 
someone did this morning, and says: Every day, my wife and I pray for 
you.
  It is not a terrible thing to do as a nation--to love and pray for 
each other and for the future direction of our country.
  If I can model for the Nation for just a moment in my own way and 
encourage the Nation on our National Day of

[[Page S2537]]

Prayer to pause and pray, I would simply say this:
  Let us pray as a nation.
  Father, guide us. We need Your help. The controversy, the division in 
our Nation, the anger, the struggle. Help us to be able to love one 
another. Help us to be able to see each other as You have created us 
and to respect You, Your wisdom, and Your guidance. Father, we admit 
that we do not know as much as You, so we need Your help. We need Your 
insight.
  For our first responders and our military scattered around this 
Nation and around the world, we pray for Your protection for them. We 
pray that You would give them insight to help them to represent us 
well.
  For members of our State Department, members in our government who 
are scattered around the Earth, members of our intelligence community 
and others who serve us every day, God, would You guide them and would 
You protect them in their tasks and give them the insight they need.
  For Federal employees who serve our Nation each day and for members 
of our Nation who are finding ways to serve each other in our 
communities, would You help us this day to love one another and to be 
able to set the tone for a world that is watching us as a nation.
  Help us represent well, You, who You have called us to be as 
individuals.
  In the Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.