[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 75 (Wednesday, May 1, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H2781-H2782]
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:
  Holy and eternal God, on the occasion of the 235th anniversary of the 
appointment of the first Chaplain to Congress, I offer this prayer in 
thanksgiving to You and to our country's forebears who found it both 
fit and necessary to open each legislative day since 1789 with prayer.
  Repeating the sentiments of George Washington in his first address 
shared with the House of Representatives on that same day, we offer our 
fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the 
universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose 
providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction 
may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the 
United States, a government instituted by themselves for these 
essential purposes.
  While these words may not be our own, like the father of our Nation, 
we acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts our affairs. 
We, like President Washington, resort to the benign parent of the human 
race in humble supplication, since You have been pleased to favor the 
American people.
  Even now, 235 years later, our prayer remains the same. May Your 
divine blessing be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the 
temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of 
this government may depend.
  Lord, hear our prayers raised up in the past, still true in this 
present day,

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and understood to be the foundation for our future.
  Amen.

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