[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 16 (Wednesday, January 25, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H291]
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:
  O Lord, God of peace, we pray this day for the peace found only in 
You, not as the world gives, for that which is found there is fleeting 
and flawed. Reveal yourself in this world which rages with hostilities, 
where there are wars and rumors of wars as far-flung as Ukraine is from 
Taiwan, where violence threatens to be the only answer to discord. 
Reveal yourself and grant us Your peace.
  Lord, how long? How long will aggressors take it upon themselves to 
usurp not just the sovereignty of a nation but basic human rights? 
Lord, put an end to the senseless shedding of blood, the indiscriminate 
targeting of innocents.
  Then may those who have suffered in ways we cannot imagine emerge 
from the ashes of their shattered lives and be raised up as a testimony 
to their enduring faith in Your redeeming grace. May the religious 
resolve of the persecuted in Ukraine, the endangered believers in 
Nigeria, the repressed Uyghurs in Xinjiang shine as a light in our 
darkness and show us what it means to believe in the hope of Your 
salvation.
  Turn our hearts to receive Your mercy and transform our lives to 
reflect Your peace, for it is in Your sovereign name we pray.
  Amen.

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