[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 20, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H2972]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 PRAYER

  Dr. Barry C. Black, Chaplain, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C., offered 
the following prayer:
  Eternal God, who alone spreads out the heavens and rules the raging 
of the sea, on the very day we celebrated the freedoms You have 
intended for each person, a day when, by the pen stroke of one person 
in Texas, Juneteenth became the symbol of the last vestiges of slavery 
in the United States, on that same day, by the stroke of violence 
inflicted on the community of Willowbrook, Illinois, and other areas of 
this land we love, we realize we are all still slaves to sin.
  Have mercy on us, O Lord, for the countless times we commit ourselves 
to bringing good news to the poor and freedom to the oppressed that, 
despite our best intentions, we, all too often, succumb to the yoke of 
hatred and prejudice.
  As we remember Juneteenth, remind us again that You have freed us 
from the bondage of our sinful nature. May we offer our whole selves to 
You, that we would allow ourselves to become slaves to righteousness.
  We pray in Your merciful name.
  Amen.

                          ____________________