[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 17 (Thursday, January 26, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S105]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 PRAYER

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Today's opening prayer is going to be led by 
one of the greatest pastors and human beings I have met in my long 
career in politics. He has done an amazing job both at CCC, his church, 
and throughout New York and America.
  So the prayer will be led by Dr. A.R. Bernard, founding pastor of 
CCC, Christian Cultural Center, in the great borough of Brooklyn, NY.
  Let us pray.
  The guest Chaplain offered the following prayer:
  Thank you, Senator.
  Let us bow our heads as we go to the Lord in prayer.
  Our Father and our God, to whom belongs all glory, honor, and praise, 
we humble ourselves in prayer, seeking Your wisdom and guidance as we 
accept the responsibility to guide, guard, and govern this great 
Nation. As the prophet Jeremiah said, ``We stand at a crossroad.''
  We join our hearts and minds in the simple prayer of the prophets of 
the Hebrew Scriptures and the prophet of the New Testament. We ask 
``Thy Kingdom come,'' not a future messianic Kingdom--that we leave in 
Your care and control--but the power of Your presence in the here and 
now; the power that changes the hearts, minds, and lives of people by 
truth, righteousness, justice, and peace and thus transforms our 
Nation, its political constructs, our social institutions--their 
systems, structures, policies, and practices--that while elevating 
some, tend to marginalize others; the power that transforms relations 
between government and citizens, labor and capital, between neighbors 
and friends, between the members of a household.
  Let our love of a free market and our responsibility for the most 
vulnerable collaborate toward the common good.
  Help us to clarify our role and function, both domestic and abroad.
  Help us to understand the meaning of our identity as one nation under 
God.
  Bring the spirit of renewal to our Nation. Reawaken passion, fervor, 
and creativity toward purpose. Let it begin with the individual and 
spread to our culture.
  We understand this is a big prayer, but You are a big God. So we ask 
You and trust You to help us, O God, and hear our prayer.
  In Your Name we pray. Amen.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. It is the first time I am sitting in the 
Chair, and you can see why. What a great man he is.
  Let us pledge.

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