[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 177 (Thursday, October 26, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H5109]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 PRAYER

  The Reverend John W. Matthews, Grace Lutheran Church, Apple Valley, 
Minnesota, offered the following prayer:
  God of all peoples, we are living on land once inhabited by the 
Pamunkey, the Dakota Sioux, the Ojibwa, the Anishinabe, the Lenni-
Lenape, the Rappahannock. May the sacred memory of them humble us and 
the spirit of their ancestors inspire us as together we strive for 
peace, justice, and reconciliation in our day.
  God of all nations, You have made each of us in Your image. Empower 
us to see Your face in the face of every other person here, at, and 
beyond our borders.
  Inspire us to live beyond mere tolerance and rather in deeper awe to 
celebrate the beauty of Your whole human family. Help us to see the 
beauty of skin color, the complexity of gender, the richness of 
ethnicity, and the blessedness of religiosity in others, those who are 
different than us.
  God of this day and place, empower the Members of this legislative 
assembly, as with the Senators next door and our President and Cabinet, 
to employ all of their wisdom and courage together to responsibly care 
for our planet and protect all of Your precious people, remembering 
especially the less fortunate and the most vulnerable.
  May Your vision for this world, O God, forever be the goal of our 
lives and vocations.
  Finally and timely, we invoke Your healing presence to surround the 
families of those harmed or killed in yesterday's tragic shooting in 
Maine. Inspire us to nurture communities where hatred and violence find 
no home.
  In Your blessed name we ask and pray these things.
  Amen.

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