Opening Prayer
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12/19/2025
Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben
Almighty and all–powerful God, we wait to hear Your voice. In this season of overwhelming busyness, when the Earth seems to shake with traffic jams and crowded stores, we listen for Your word amid the hustle and bustle, but too often the distractions prevent us from appreciating it.
When we hear the sounds of sleigh bells and elevator music, even children singing and orchestras in concert halls playing carols and festive songs, for some these are just discordant sounds, dissonant with their deepest desires. Many simply can't distinguish Your voice amid the noise.
The lights around the neighborhoods are amazing, but the flash and color seem to meld into mayhem when we know of so many, maybe we ourselves, who are enveloped in the darkness of despair and loss and cannot distinguish Your light in their lives.
Kind and loving God, as we approach the longest night, as we endure the bleakness of winter in a world at war and face the shadows that loom in our lives, we ask that You would speak with Your own still, small voice. Grant us the hope of Your abiding presence and eternal light in this season
In Your steadfast and loving name, we pray. Amen.
1 Kings 19:11–12