Almighty God,
this week we remember nightmares,
to reaffirm our dreams.
On this Holocaust Remembrance Day–
during this week we have set aside–
our Nation recalls victims of the Holocaust:
a Holocaust brave Americans took up arms to fight
and many gave their lives to end.
And so, before this session starts,
and during a time when our brave men and women
still risk their lives for better times,
we pray the day will come when the lesson of this horror,
the lessons of all nightmares,
help make our dreams of peace come true.

From the Holocaust we learn:
when human beings deny humanity in others,
they destroy humanity within themselves.
When they reject the human in a neighbor’s soul,
then they unleash the beast,
and the barbaric,
in their own hearts.

And so, remembering, we pray:
if the time has not yet dawned
when we can proclaim our faith in God,
then let us say at least
that we admit we are not gods ourselves.
If we cannot yet see the face of God in others,
then let us see, at least,
a face as human as our own.

You taught us through the Bible–
taught that life might be a blessing or a curse:^[1] Cf. Deuteronomy 11:26.  
the choice is in our hands.
So many people,
so many peoples,
have felt the curse of life too filled with cruelty, violence, and hate.
As Americans we pray–
we vow–
to keep alive the dream of better times;
to keep our faith that we can be,
will be,
a force for good;
a force for hope;
a force for freedom;
a blessing, not a curse–
to all our people;
to all the world.

And may we say,
amen.