The Office of the Chaplain United States House of Representatives

Opening Prayer

03/30/2026
Dr. Edrees Bridges

O source of wisdom and quiet guidance, we gather in this hour mindful of the trust placed within these walls.

What unfolds in this Chamber is not separate from the lives beyond it but reflects how we listen, engage, and strive together as a people.

Where voices rise in their diversity, let them continue to come together in mutual regard.

Where different perspectives are offered, let them be received with dignity and care.

And as this important work calls for perseverance, bestow upon our leaders patience, wisdom, and guide their steps.

Remind us that progress is often born through thoughtful exchange and that shared purpose is revealed as we listen, learn, and labor together for the common good.

Grant our lawmakers clarity in thought, steadiness in spirit, and generosity that makes room for one another.

Protect all who serve within these Halls and guide their work toward what is just, wise, and brings lasting good to our Nation now and for generations yet to come.

Ameen.

Thought of the Week

When we want to be something other than the thing God wants us to be, we must be wanting what, in fact, will not make us happy. Those Divine demands which sound to our natural ears most like those of a despot and least like those of a lover, in fact, marshal us where we should want to go if we knew what we wanted. He demands our worship, our obedience, our prostration... A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell. But God wills our good, and our good is to love him. That is, whether we like it or not, God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want.

—C.S. Lewis

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