[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 683]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  Rev. Dr. Silvester S. Beaman, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal 
Church, Wilmington, Delaware, offered the following prayer:
  Almighty God, the focus of our adoration, the hope of our salvation 
and the source of our strength.
  In this immense Hall for which the reverberating echoes of great men 
and women have raised their voices for the cause of justice, liberty 
and equality, we pause to surrender to Your sovereign authority.
  We invoke Your presence. We petition You for wisdom. We await Your 
effectual power.
  A Nation and world look to this deliberative body to be a voice for 
the voiceless, help for the hurting, and inspiration for the weary. 
Give us courage for our times. In the season of celebration, help us to 
see the transformative light of faith that inspired Mahatma Gandhi, 
Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, that transcends the things that 
divide and help us to hold fast to those universal principles that 
unite.
  God, may our motives, words, actions, and love define us in these, 
our defining moments, by Your grace and according to Your will.
  Amen.

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