Loving and merciful God, today we thank You for the dedication and endurance of our legislators and staff members. At the end of this session, we ask Your blessing on each one as we pray in the words of the poet Jan Richardson:
Blessed are you
who bear the light in unbearable times,
who testify to its endurance amid the unendurable,
who bear witness to its persistence when everything is in shadow and grief.
Blessed are you
in whom the light lives, in whom the brightness blazes—
your heart a chapel, an altar where in the deepest night can be seen
the fire that shines forth in you
in unaccountable faith, in stubborn hope,
in love that illumines every broken thing it finds.
And so, may God bless you and keep you.
May God’s face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
May God look upon you kindly and give you peace.—AMEN.
(Jan Richardson and Numbers 6:24–26)