[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 131 (Friday, August 16, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H4993]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 PRAYER

  Reverend Rachel Landers Vaagenes, Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, 
Washington, D.C., offered the following prayer:
  Lord, still our hearts and minds from the busyness of the world for 
just a moment and turn our attention to the eternal and the 
transcendent.
  Holy God, who loves us, Your love is always nearer than we know. We 
seem to only see weariness and strife with victories hard won and 
failures too many to number. We thank You for Your grace and 
forgiveness in the midst of our struggle, and we thank You for sharing 
Your vision of a world beyond partisan struggle, beyond violence, 
beyond division.
  We pray, Lord, that this vision might be made real here and now: 
Peace over victory. Forgiveness over pride. Love over all.
  I pray for the House Members and their constituents, who work 
together to be citizens of a better world.
  I pray for their staff and families, especially, who support them in 
this extraordinary responsibility for our country. I pray for all of 
Congress, the court, and the executive office, that all may see beyond 
ideology and self-serving ends and work for the common good of the 
country that is made up of so many different people.
  Send us into our work with stilled hearts and clear minds and this 
vision of love ever before us.
  Amen.

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