[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9167]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  Reverend M. Davies Kirkland, Dulin United Methodist Church, Falls 
Church, Virginia, offered the following prayer:
  Gracious and loving God, we offer thanks for this day that You have 
given us, a day full of new beginnings, opportunities, and potential 
for our country.
  We ask Your blessings upon these Representatives, their staffs, and 
all here who work through government to serve people of varied 
traditions, faiths, and races.
  Give them guidance and strength as they debate, deliberate, and make 
difficult decisions on laws which will govern our country.
  Give them patience and civility to listen compassionately, to show 
respect for each other, and to work together for the common good.
  And, O God, give them hope. For though the path may seem perilous and 
the hurdles high, may hope sustain these public servants that they 
might accomplish the more perfect union that our forebears dreamed of: 
a more perfect union of justice, freedom, and liberty for all.
  I pray this in Your Almighty name.
  Amen.

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