Opening Prayer
06/27/2023
Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben
God our provider, sustainer, and friend, we give You thanks that in Your provision You have sustained the Senate and this country, with our friend Chaplain Black, and his 20 years of ministry in this Capitol. By Your grace, we have borne witness to a man who has shown us what it means to pray without ceasing and serve You without reservation.
Having given over 25 years of service wearing the cloth of our Nation as a chaplain in the United States Navy, having come alongside countless marines and sailors, offering Your comfort and guidance in times of peace and war, Chaplain Black again heard Your call and heeded Your claim on him to continue with gladness in his service to You in these hallowed Halls.
God, if we could hear Your voice, most of us would know it already, for Chaplain Black's booming and scholarly locution resonate with Your divine guidance. But it is more than the caliber but the content of his speech and the profound testimony of his faith walk with You which has inspired us.
When Chaplain Black speaks, we are transported into Your divine presence. We find ourselves drawn to desire to know what he knows, that each of us are called to give witness to You at all times with the same measure of devotion Chaplain Black has demonstrated in the face of circumstances and consequences, challenges and celebrations that have both tested and testified to his faithfulness.
So in thanksgiving to You for the grace You have shown us in the ministry of Dr. Barry Black, may we too be compelled to rejoice always in Your will and pray constantly for Your guiding word.
By Your grace and in Your name we pray. Amen.