[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 112 (Tuesday, June 27, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H3147]
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 provider, sustainer, and friend, we give You thanks that in 
Your provision You have sustained the Senate and this country, with our 
friend Chaplain Black, and his 20 years of ministry in this Capitol. By 
Your grace, we have borne witness to a man who has shown us what it 
means to pray without ceasing and serve You without reservation.
  Having given over 25 years of service wearing the cloth of our Nation 
as a chaplain in the United States Navy, having come alongside 
countless marines and sailors, offering Your comfort and guidance in 
times of peace and war, Chaplain Black again heard Your call and heeded 
Your claim on him to continue with gladness in his service to You in 
these hallowed Halls.
  God, if we could hear Your voice, most of us would know it already, 
for Chaplain Black's booming and scholarly locution resonate with Your 
divine guidance. But it is more than the caliber but the content of his 
speech and the profound testimony of his faith walk with You which has 
inspired us.
  When Chaplain Black speaks, we are transported into Your divine 
presence. We find ourselves drawn to desire to know what he knows, that 
each of us are called to give witness to You at all times with the same 
measure of devotion Chaplain Black has demonstrated in the face of 
circumstances and consequences, challenges and celebrations that have 
both tested and testified to his faithfulness.
  So in thanksgiving to You for the grace You have shown us in the 
ministry of Dr. Barry Black, may we too be compelled to rejoice always 
in Your will and pray constantly for Your guiding word.
  By Your grace and in Your name we pray.
  Amen.

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