[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3744]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  Rev. Raymond Bowman, Spruce Street Baptist Church, Nashville, 
Tennessee, offered the following prayer:
  O God of freedom, referred to by many names, embraced in different 
ways by the many different people who make up this great Republic.
  As leaders and elected officials, center us on the awesome work of 
serving a people who have been identified as the citizenry of a free 
Nation, the United States of America.
  Grant us a powerful sense of Your presence so that we are not 
confused about Who really leads and inspires a free people.
  Help us to honor the aspirations of a free Nation, so that our 
private ideologies do not distort public passions.
  May we in our own little ways provide a concerted effort to represent 
well our unique, diverse, but united constituencies.
  Enable us to see that our best expressions of leadership come not 
from bold assumptions, but out of humble submissions. Submit us, I 
pray, to the lofty aspirations that continue to give shape to our 
wonderful country.
  We thank You for giving us another opportunity to make real our claim 
of God bless America.
  Amen.

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