Reverend Galen E. Hahn
Evangelical United Church of Christ
Portsmouth, OH
Sponsor: Rep. Jean Schmidt, (R-OH)
Date of Prayer: 07/24/2007
One Minute Speech Given in Recognition of the Guest Chaplain:
(Mrs. SCHMIDT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)
Mrs. SCHMIDT. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize my friend Reverend Galen Hahn , who is serving as guest chaplain for the House of Representatives today.
Reverend Hahn is the pastor of the Evangelical United Church of Christ, located in my district in Portsmouth, Ohio. Reverend Galen Hahn graduated from Frederick High School in Maryland. As a high school student, Reverend Hahn led youth in contributing to the building of the President John F. Kennedy Library and served as an usher on the Presidential Reviewing Stand of Lyndon B. Johnson. After high school Reverend Hahn went on to graduate from Yale Divinity School in Connecticut and was ordained a minister in the United Church of Christ.
Reverend Hahn has pastored throughout the country. He has offered ordained Christian service to the Moravian Church and the United Methodist Church in North Carolina and started a Montessori preschool in Illinois, which continues to this day. He has led scouts in worship on the battlefields of Monocacy, Antietam, and Gettysburg, and has held a memorial service at the grave site of President George Washington.
Galen's wife Sandy has led worship at Camp David for President and Mrs. George Herbert Walker Bush. Today Galen and Sandy are celebrating their 36th wedding anniversary as well as their oldest daughter Whitney's 30th birthday.
Reverend Hahn has invested his life's energy in service to God and country and the oneness of these two entities.
Madam Speaker, I ask all my colleagues to join me in welcoming Reverend Galen Hahn to the House of Representatives as our guest chaplain.
Opening Prayer Given by the Guest Chaplain:
Laus Deo. Praise be to God. Our elected Representatives, O God, work diligently on this day to represent the interests and needs of the many peoples of this land. Holding a people together as one has been a challenge to former leaders of this land. May our congressional leaders be guided throughout their many efforts this day by the words of Washington's prayer that we all be disposed to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before you, O God. Saving grace, we know, is not simply a personal attainment apart from community responsibility; it is also community accomplishment expressed in thankfulness to the Source from which it comes. Bless our leaders this day with thankfulness in their hearts. May their lives and their leadership give praise to you, O God.
Amen.
To learn more about Members who have sponsored a Guest Chaplain, please visit the Congressional Biographical Directory