Reverend Karen Hallett
U.S. Army
New Windsor, NY
Sponsor: Rep. Scott Garrett, (R-NJ)
Date of Prayer: 02/01/2012
One Minute Speech Given in Recognition of the Guest Chaplain:
Mr. GARRETT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the words of the chaplain who says may we indeed know the Lord.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Chaplain Karen Hallett on her selection as the 2012 Reserve Officers Association Chaplain of the Year. She is a resident of Vernon, New Jersey, which is a part of the Fifth Congressional District.
The chaplain enlisted in the Army in 1983 and completed basic combat training at Fort Dix, New Jersey. She went on from there to graduate from West Point and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Ordnance Corps in 1988.
After that and after fulfilling her enlistment obligations, she spent 18 years in the civilian sector, successfully managing businesses while remaining engaged in full–time ministry. In 2009, after completing her master's of divinity degree at Bethel Seminary, she returned to military service as a captain in the United States Army Reserves. She currently serves as a brigade chaplain for the 411th Engineer Brigade.
Throughout her more than 20 years of ministerial service and missionary work, and now through her military service to our country, she has dedicated herself to ministering to the spiritual needs of others. It is her selflessness and her service that exemplify the mandate to esteem others better than ourselves.
I thank her for her service. I congratulate her on receiving this recognition as Chaplain of the Year.
Opening Prayer Given by the Guest Chaplain:
Reading from the book of Exodus, Moses said to the Lord, ‘‘You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,' but You have not let me know whom You will send with me ..... If You are pleased with me, teach me Your ways so I may know You and continue to find favor with You. Remember that this nation is Your people.''
The Lord replied, ‘‘My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.''
Then Moses said to him, ‘‘If Your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that You are pleased with me and with Your people unless You go with us? What else will distinguish me and Your people from all the other people on the face of the Earth?''
And the Lord said to Moses, ‘‘I will do the very thing you ask because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.''
Then Moses said, ‘‘Now show me Your glory.''
And this, O Lord, is our prayer :
We do not come seeking Your blessing. Today, Lord, we come seeking You. We invite You to truly be present with us here today. Show us Your glory, Lord, that we might be changed and set apart upon the Earth once again as a people of faith, a Nation that knows You. Make Your face to shine upon us that we might reflect Your grace. And grant us Your peace we pray.
Amen.
To learn more about Members who have sponsored a Guest Chaplain, please visit the Congressional Biographical Directory