The Office of the Chaplain United States House of Representatives

Opening Prayer

05/04/2026
Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, our Creator and Redeemer, help us to hear your word with new ears. Long ago you declared that you are the first and the last. Your hand laid the foundation of the Earth, and your right hand spread out the heavens.

The former things you declared long ago. The words that came from your mouth at creation have come to pass. All that you desire for us and all you have done for us has been made known.

Reveal to us now the hidden things we could not appreciate because your wisdom is too wonderful for us.
Now more than ever, we need a word from you. Your guidance unveils your eternal and gracious design for our lives, and your direction clarifies the decisions before us.

Speak and we will listen. Lead us and we will follow.

In your sovereign name, we pray. Amen.

Isaiah 48:3, 6–7, 12–13

Thought of the Week

There is no patent recipe for getting good citizenship. You get it by applying the old, old rules of decent conduct, the rules in accordance with which decent men have had to shape their lives from the beginning.. fundamental precepts put forth in the Bible and embodied consciously or unconsciously in the code of morals of every great and successful nation from antiquity to modern times.

—Theodore Roosevelt

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