The Office of the Chaplain United States House of Representatives

Opening Prayer

09/08/2026
Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Lord, when we have found ourselves slipping, when we have chastened ourselves for mistakes or bad decisions, Your steadfast love has helped us up. Help us to learn that in our humanity, we will often find ourselves falling short of the mark, inadequate to the task, or daunted by the responsibility laid on us. As You have done before, so You will again help us up, dust us off, and send us forth, forgiven and restored to do the work You have called us to do.

Likewise, when we have been overwrought with concerns, distressed by circumstances, Your consolations have cheered our souls, and Your ministrations are not mere platitudes or feeble words of encouragement.

No, You who have watched over us day and night calm us with Your very presence, so that even when our fears are many, we need only lean on Your guidance and listen for Your Word.

To You, O Lord, we offer this day and all that it brings with it, knowing that Your steadfast love and Your abiding presence will see us through.

So then may Your name, in which we pray, be glorified. Amen.

Psalm 94:18–19

Thought of the Week

Rosh Hashanah is the Creation of the World. It is a time to recreate ourselves by recognizing our faults, repenting and asking forgiveness from others for our sins, all leading to atonement, granted by God for our actions.  

—Marc Rubenstein 
L’Shana Tovah

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