The Office of the Chaplain United States House of Representatives

Opening Prayer

12/17/2025
Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

From wherever we have come, and wherever we now find ourselves, may our seeking lead us to You, O Lord. No matter how far we have wandered, regardless of the distance we have strayed, You have always remained near to us. May we return to You that You may have mercy on us.

Whether our way of life has proven unsustainable, or our life decisions shameful, You have always maintained Your love for us. May we abandon all that has dishonored You and surrender our willfulness to Your forgiveness.

Then, by Your forbearance, may we realize that our thoughts are not Your thoughts, nor are our ways Your ways. Your Heavens are high above the Earth, so Your will far surpasses what our limited perspective can imagine.

On this day, grant us the overwhelming joy to be found knowing that You want us to have a role in Your sovereign plan. May we engage in the work You have set before us with gratitude for the opportunity You have given us to serve You and this Nation at this time.

And may this day bring glory to You and peace in our lives and the lives of those whom we have been called to represent.

In Your mighty name, we pray. Amen.

Isaiah 55:6–9, 12

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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