The Office of the Chaplain United States House of Representatives

Opening Prayer

12/16/2025
Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

O, bright Morning Star, break forth in the darkness of this weary world and shine Your light of hope. You, whose mercies are new every morning, reveal Your promises for today.

Let those who are thirsty come to the waters and drink, for You provide the water of life. And may we who have been sated with the blessings we have received share with those who are still in want.

Let those who have no money come and find sustenance, for You offer the bread of life. And may we who have filled ourselves with the food You provide share in our abundance with those who are in need.

We incline our ears to You. Speak into our lives, as busy as they are, as overwhelmed as we are. Though the noise around us is deafening, may we come to You for You are near. Though the sounds of the times are daunting, may we listen, for Your Word casts out all fear.

For You alone are the light of the world and Your Word a lamp for our feet. Pierce the darkness and guide us each into this day and to the hope of Your salvation.

In Your sovereign name we pray. Amen.

Isaiah 55:1, 6
Revelation 22:16–17

Thought of the Week

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown; but we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self–sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us, It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, and confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. 

—Abraham Lincoln

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