[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 119 (Wednesday, July 12, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H3218]
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:
  Sovereign Lord, whose great strength and outstretched arm made the 
Earth and all who live thereon, look out upon Your creation and grant 
us Your divine compassion. You show mercy to those You want to, and You 
harden the hearts of those You choose to harden. Show mercy to the 
victims of the war in Ukraine, but we ask that You soften the hearts of 
those in whose power it is to bring peace, once again, into this war-
torn region.
  How long, O Lord, will You allow innocents to remain subject to 
needless violence and ruthless aggression? Are not 500 days long 
enough, 9,000 deaths enough, for the Ukrainian people to suffer? How 
long, O Lord, will You hide from us the just and righteous pathway to 
peace in the region?
  Yet, O Lord, You have revealed to us in this interminable war what it 
means to reach to the depths of faith in the face of hopelessness. No 
wisdom, no understanding, and not even the most brilliant battle plan 
can succeed against You, our Lord, for in these promises have the 
Ukrainians found the font of their strength. You are their strength and 
shield, the source of their unwavering resilience.
  Reward them, O God, for their faithfulness in the face of the 
indiscriminate hostility of their adversary. In their struggle not just 
against flesh and blood, not only against powers and principalities of 
this world, but in the spiritual conflict against the forces of evil 
rampant in this world, may all who believe in You take up the full 
armor You provide and find our deliverance in You.
  In the power of Your name, we are bold to pray.
  Amen.

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