[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 171 (Wednesday, October 18, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H5025]
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:
  Speak to us, O Lord. Speak to us in words we can hear and understand, 
for the cacophony of chaos has overwhelmed our ability to receive Your 
guidance and discern Your direction.
  Remind us of Your servant Ezra, who when embarking on a perilous 
future, petitioned God and then proclaimed a fast, calling the people 
to humble themselves before You, that You would lead and protect them 
on the journey.
  We often call to mind Your reluctant servant, Esther, but remind us 
that when she was faced with the annihilation of her people and heard 
Your call for personal sacrifice in the face of political uncertainty, 
she too urged prayer and fasting, and then placed all her dependence on 
Your provision.
  So, O Lord, as we face times such as these, the ongoing war of 
atrocities in Ukraine, the tinderbox of terror that is Israel and Gaza, 
the divisive unrest in these very Chambers, may we in prayer rend our 
hearts and not our country. May we fast, abstaining from all that 
detracts us from our reliance on You. Then may we return to You, O 
Lord, appealing to You for Your guidance and protection, for You are 
gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast 
love. Speak the word You would have us hear.
  In Your sovereign name, we pray.
  Amen.

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