Reverend Dr. Michael W. Waters
Joy Tabernacle AME Church
Dallas, TX
Sponsor: Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, (D-TX)
Date of Prayer: 11/01/2017
One Minute Speech Given in Recognition of the Guest Chaplain:
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to host Reverend Waters as our guest chaplain today.
Reverend Waters is a true community servant and a man of God. He is
the founding pastor of Joy Tabernacle African Methodist Episcopal
Church––AME––of Dallas, Texas.
Reverend Waters is a pastor, a professor, an award–winning author, a
community leader, and a social commentator. Reverend Waters' words of hope and empowerment inspire national and international audiences.
As a notable friend of the community, Reverend Waters served as a
keynote speaker at my Annual Dallas Prayer Breakfast this year. His
engaging personality and purposeful speech captivated the attention of all those who attended.
As a strong leader, Reverend Waters is able to understand the unique
needs of our community. He knows no stranger when he walks into the
room, and his charismatic nature allows him to connect with everyone he meets.
It is my pleasure that he has come today to be our guest chaplain. May God continue to bless him.
Opening Prayer Given by the Guest Chaplain:
Immutable God, greater than all that has or ever will be conceived, hear our prayer:
For ancestors at rest in the abode of angels, accosted and assaulted while present upon these shores, enduring avalanches of animus never atoned;
for babies bombarded by bombs, bounties placed upon their beautiful heads at birth;
for the cacophony of cries citing crimes against humanity, callous cycles of crisis, casualties colored in chalk.
In Your name, we shall resist evil by loving our neighbors as ourselves.
Grant that we become drum majors of justice, promulgators of peace, architects of an America freed from greed, hate, oppression, racism, suppression, indeed, the very threat of tyranny, replete with liberty and justice for all, till that great day when lions shall lie down with lambs and we study war no more, when justice flows like waters, and righteousness, like a mighty stream, and all God's children are finally free.
Amen.
To learn more about Members who have sponsored a Guest Chaplain, please visit the Congressional Biographical Directory