Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff on 23 August 2024

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Date: 2024-08-23

Last Updated: 2025-03-29

Categories: 🇺🇸 United States of America, Opening Prayers for Legislative Bodies

Tags: 118th Congress, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, English vernacular prayer, U.S. House of Representatives

Excerpt: The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 23 August 2024. . . .


Content:
Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff, Retired Navy Chaplain, Washington, DC
Date of Prayer: 23 August 2024

Contribute a translation Source (English)
Almighty God,
August recalls war:
Guns of August — WWⅠ,
Atomic bombs of August — WWⅡ,
And on this day, 1996,
Bin Laden declares war.
Terror, war, still rage.
We pray for casualties to cease, hostages set free —
In a world itself held hostage to hatred, fear, and grief.
But August recalls progress, too.
Two anniversaries next week:
19th amendment, women’s right to vote:
Human rights becoming legal rights,
Enshrining liberty in law.
And stirring words of Dr. King touched our nation’s soul:
“I have a dream” — that we’ll be free at last.[1] From Martin Luth King’s “I have a dream” speech read at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (August 28, 1963). 
75 days until our nation votes,
Embracing sometimes hard-won rights,
keeping faith with prayers and dreams of better times:
That justice rolls like mighty waters,
Righteousness, a never-ending stream;[2] Amos 5:24 
When freedom rings from every mountainside,[3] Find note above, from Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream speech. 
and war will be no more.[4] Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:3. 
Then, with new meaning, spirit, united we’ll proclaim:
My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.[5] From the popular patriotic hymn “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” (1831) by Samuel Francis Smith (1808-1895), a de facto national anthem of the United States of America before 1931. 
And may we say, Amen.

118th Congress, 2nd Session.

Recordings

 

Notes

Notes
1 From Martin Luth King’s “I have a dream” speech read at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (August 28, 1963).
2 Amos 5:24
3 Find note above, from Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream speech.
4 Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:3.
5 From the popular patriotic hymn “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” (1831) by Samuel Francis Smith (1808-1895), a de facto national anthem of the United States of America before 1931.

Contributor: Arnold E. Resnicoff

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