[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 68 (Tuesday, April 20, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H1963]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 PRAYER

  The Chaplain, the Reverend Margaret Grun Kibben, offered the 
following prayer:
  God our judge, as we anxiously await the verdict from the jury in 
Minnesota, we plead our case with You. As a country, we are rent with 
acrimony, torn by our individual understandings of right and wrong, 
facts and feelings, and divided by a host of opinions on crime and 
punishment.
  Call us to lay all of this--as hopeless as it appears--on Your 
judgment seat. Then lay Your divine hand upon the outcome of this case, 
and also on our compatriots' anger, their thoughts of revenge, and the 
insatiable need to disrupt and destroy. Stay any inclinations toward 
violence and remind us that vengeful behavior is no more justified than 
the acts of those who precipitated that grief and harm and ignited our 
cities.
  Be merciful on this Nation--despite how we have turned our backs on 
Your perfect love. As You inevitably judge our response to the 
incidents of unrest that plague our land, forgive our iniquities and 
heal our brokenness. Redeem the soul of our country.
  Then inspire these leaders of our government to find ways to 
represent back to their districts and to our communities a better way 
toward reconciling the divide. Call them to follow Your example of 
compassion and care, humility and love.
  In Your saving name we pray.
  Amen.

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