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Prayers from the Senate and House Chaplains – Intercessors for America

Monday, May 22, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

We approach You, Lord our God, embraced in Your perfect love. In You do we find all we need. If we are afraid, we find courage. If we are despairing, we find hope. If ill, we find healing. We need only give up all that holds us back from receiving the grace and mercy You offer so freely to each of us.

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May we not allow ourselves to be caught up in the fear of failure, the fear of the unknown, or the fear of our enemies, but by Your grace may we discover the courage to move forward where You would have us go.

May we not be inclined to look through the lens of despair, the despair of loss, the despair of rejection, the despair of death, but in Your mercy may we gird ourselves with the hope of Your presence in these shadows.

May we be willing and open to find the strength You provide to endure our suffering. Be we ill in mind, body, or spirit, may we find healing in Your peace, a peace that surpasses our understanding.

In You, O Lord, do we find all that we need this day: courage, hope, and healing. O holy one, may we not live our lives for desires that fall short of Your grace plan for us, but open our eyes to Your provision and recognize Your unfailing love for us.

In the name of the one who is able to do far more than we could ever ask for or imagine, we pray. Amen.

Thursday, May 18, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Let us pray. Eternal God, our help and strength, we bow in awe and reverence before You. You are the mighty fortress in whom we find refuge. You do for us more than we can ask or imagine.

Lord, strengthen our Senators for today’s journey and all the changing scenes of their lives. Help them to bear in mind that You will empower them to meet every challenge. Give to them the abiding awareness that nothing can disturb their peace if they put their trust in You. May our Senators live in the sure faith that You can enable them to live worthy of Your grace.

We pray in Your loving Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Pastor Craig Pridgen

How can I say thanks for the things that You have done? The voices of 1 million angels could not express our gratitude. All that we are and ever would hope to be, we owe it all to Thee. To God be the glory for the things You have done.

It is in the stillness of a room steeped in tradition that we pause to invite Your presence. I pray Your continued guidance for those whom You have perfectly placed in these hallowed seats. As the psalmist declared, how wonderful and pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity. Despite the differences of political affiliation, demographic, gender, or ethnicity, we stand together in this House of the people in unity. One Nation under God.

In the name of the one who is able to do exceeding, abundantly, above all we can ask or think. Amen.

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Let us pray. Eternal Lord God, we are reminded of Your mercies that have been of old. You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

Guard and guide our Senators. Provide them with the sense of purposeful direction. Lord, give Your enabling grace to our legislative leaders that they may unite their best efforts for the health and strength of the Nation and for peace and justice in our world. Cleanse anything in them that would block the flow of Your power. May gratitude to You be the motive for their work as they strive to live worthy of Your grace.

We pray in Your majestic Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Omnipotent God, we lift our prayers today with those of the people of Ukraine. Like Your servant Job, they grieve the weight of their anguish, they suffer from the burden of their calamities. O, that You would grant their request for respite from the tyranny they still endure. Would that You hear their desires for deliverance from their unrelenting adversary.

How You will answer these prayers is beyond our comprehension. Why You are allowing these atrocities to continue is beyond our understanding.

But if it is for us to see the resolve of the Ukrainians’ belief in their salvation despite all they have endured, then give us eyes to see that You are the source of their resilience. If it is for us to hear that, like Job, they do not curse You despite the injustice visited upon them, then give us ears to hear that You are the reason for their hope.

May their faith inspire our own, that all who claim their belief in You would learn what it means to trust in Your mercy, to proclaim Your steadfast love, and to witness Your redeeming power in our world, in Ukraine, and in our own lives.

Bless the righteous, O Lord, and cover them with Your favor. In the strength of Your name we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Let us pray. Almighty God, You know all about us. You are our Lord. Our goodness is nothing apart from You. Give us Your Holy Spirit to purge us of every wrong thing so that our lives will glorify You.

Today, guide the steps of our lawmakers. Deliver them from those who shoot from the shadows as You rule the nations with Your justice. Lord, examine every heart, both the evil and the good. Empower our Senators to run when they can, to walk when ought, and to wait when they must. Open their minds to discern Your will and inspire them with the willingness to follow where You lead.

We pray in Your matchless Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Almighty God, You, O Lord, are our strength and our shield. In You do we find trust and find our refuge. In protecting us against threats of harm, defending us in the face of danger, You have set among us brave men and women who have taken up the shield of service. This National Police Week, hear our prayers of gratitude for their commitment to uphold and defend the peace in our communities, our country, and the Capitol.

Remind us, O Lord, that the security they so dutifully provide comes at considerable personal cost to them. The long hours and relentless pressure to stand yet another extra watch steal precious time away from their loved ones. Their commitment to providing unwavering protection for those in their charge has too often demanded of them the ultimate measure of their sacrifice.

For these countless acts of dedication, their selfless service, and their heroism, for the 556 men and women whose names were added to the National Law Enforcement Memorial this year, and for all who have gone above and beyond, paying the final price in their efforts to safeguard the citizens of our Nation, we pray Your blessing be upon their families, and we pray Your assurance that their deaths will not be in vain.

Bless the righteous, O Lord, and cover them with Your favor. In the strength of Your name, we pray. Amen.

Monday, May 15, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Let us pray. Gracious Lord, King of our lives and ruler of all, help us today to walk uprightly, speak Your truth, and strive for righteousness. Turn the Members of this body back to the truth that those who would be great must be willing to serve humanity and that those who lose their lives for a worthy cause will find life everlasting.

Lord, make our lawmakers, this day, receptive to Your wisdom, even amid the sometimes contention and collision of debate. Help them to shine with Your peace and good will. Fill this Chamber with Your presence and each Senator with Your power, for the work of this day and beyond.

We pray in Your righteous Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, sanctify this day and the week ahead, that our work would serve to glorify You and our efforts would prove worthy of You.

You, Lord, are all we have. The riches of wealth, the blessing of talent and opportunity, the allure of beauty, and the fortune of friends and family are nothing compared to the portion we have in You.

You, Lord, are all we have, and You give us all we need. You supply us not just with life and breath, but with purpose and meaning as You send us forth to uphold truth and justice and to remain steadfast in mercy and compassion.

You, Lord, are all we have. You give us all we need, and our future is in Your hands. In the certainty of Your protection, may we find our courage. In the sureness of Your presence, may we find our strength.

Then, in the bounty of Your grace, may we find our worth as we live into Your desires for us this day and this week. May our hearts be open to the lives You would have us lead and our wills on the paths that You would lead us.

In the power You grant us in Your name, we pray. Amen.

Thursday, May 11, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Dr. Barry C. Black

Gracious God, most holy, the source of our hope, keep us from dragging the honor of this great Nation in the dust.

Lord, our Senators need Your presence and help for the journey ahead. You have promised that You will never fail or forsake them. So empower them to trust You, come what may. Allow them to minister to those on life’s margins, continuing Your work of setting the captives free.

Lord, give our lawmakers wisdom and courage to serve their generation in a way that honors You. May they place their lives and this Nation’s future into Your all-powerful hands.

We pray in Your merciful Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Gracious and generous God, every good and perfect gift comes from You. We need only pause and reflect on how our lives have been blessed with family, children, loved ones, and friends, and our hearts are filled with deep gratitude that You allow us these loves in our lives.

So, too, is Your munificence bestowed on us with every skill, every talent, every opportunity that we exercise here in this place and enjoy sometimes without thinking how blessed we are. We need only stop and remember that these qualities which have brought us success in our careers and comfort in our circumstance have been afforded to us by Your kind provision.

In times of growth and grief, faith and fear, accord and acrimony, we need only turn to You in whom there is no variation and whose steadfast love never fails. We need only remember You are always the provider of every gift and, without fail, the answer to our every concern.

All good gifts around us are sent from Heaven above. We need only take the time to thank You, O Lord. Hear our prayers as we offer them in appreciation for all that we have and all that You have allowed us to enjoy.

We offer our prayers in the strength of Your name. Amen.

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Dr. Barry C. Black

Let us pray. Eternal God, known to us in countless ways and times without number, we turn to You, that in Your light we might see light. Lord, illuminate the minds of our lawmakers regarding how to solve the difficult problems of our Nation and world.

As our Senators become aware of Your presence, may their lives experience the splendor and strength that You alone can give. Help them to remember that You are still their best help in the time of trouble. Send them forth to face this day armed with a faith that will not shrink though pressed by many a foe.

We pray in Your powerful Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

O Lord, our God, Your thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are Your ways our ways. But we pray that You would grant us insight into Your gracious plan and provide evidence of Your steadfast love for creation even as war continues to rage in Ukraine and senseless attacks are visited upon the Ukrainian people.

You look from Your heavens and permit humanity to continue on its course toward destruction. Lord, we pray that You would redeem our foolish ways and show us the path toward peace.

The heavens are indeed higher than the Earth and Your ways beyond our comprehension. Lord, we pray that You would magnify our understanding of Your presence in the midst of the mayhem that rages throughout the world.

Your thoughts are most certainly higher than our own. We acknowledge that we cannot fully know Your purpose as we hear of innocent people having to endure unspeakable strife in their own families, in their communities, in the sanctity of their homeland. Lord, we pray that You would enlighten our minds, temper our will, that our thoughts and ways would serve to carve the way toward reconciliation.

Hear our prayers as we offer them in the hope of Your saving name. Amen.

Tuesday, May 9, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Dr. Barry C. Black

O Holy God, who has taught us to place our confidence in You, give the Members of this body the power of Your wisdom. In all their duties, empower them to be loyal to You and obedient to Your precepts. Although violence, chaos, and turbulence seem to prevail in our land, give our Senators faith to believe that You are willing to help them solve the problems they face.

Lord, be their abiding reality and lead them into the paths of loving service as they strive to honor You. Open their eyes to the many things they can do to accomplish Your will.

We pray in Your great Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, be our guide for the week ahead of us. In all that will be discussed, debated, and disputed, reveal Your direction in each deliberation. May each of us not only have the eyes to see how You would lead us, but a heart inclined to Your word and the will to follow Your own wherever You will take us to accomplish Your work in this place.

Call us again to humble ourselves, and in response, may we assume a posture of obedience, an attitude of surrender, and offer this day and ourselves to You.

Unburden us from the worry and anxiety that attends us, and free us from the chains that bind us, that we would learn to live our lives in hope.

With our prayers and in our living, we commit ourselves to seek first Your righteousness. Add unto us the clarity of Your claim on us this day, the wisdom of Your word in our hearts, and the certainty of Your sovereignty over our lives.

In Your strong name we pray. Amen.

Friday, May 5, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Hear our prayers, O Lord, this day, as we lift our voices with those around the country who just yesterday joined to share in faith on the National Day of Prayer. We call on the profound power of prayer, as together we offer our own prayers from a variety of religious traditions, each yielding ourselves to Your divine guidance, praying for Your deliverance, and leaning on Your divine promise to hear our prayers and heal our land.

May our unified voices move mountains and remove barriers to achieving our common purposes, obstacles in the way of our shared goals. May our expressions of faith, even when it is no larger than a mustard seed, prove effective enough to reveal possibilities in the face of the apparent impossibility of finding comity in our efforts.

As we pray, be it of one accord as yesterday, or in the solitude of our hearts today, empower us, collectively and individually, to influence the course of our society. May our faith in You turn the tides of tyranny, dissuade us from disrespect, and free us to forge roads toward civility in our homes, in our communities, and in our Nation.

Lord, hear the prayers of the righteous and show mercy to the rest of us, so that we would receive the blessing of Your response.

In Your sovereign name we pray. Amen.

Thursday, May 4, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Dr. Barry C. Black

O Lord, our redeemer, abide with our Senators through the passing hours of this day. Strengthen them to stand firm for those good and eternal values that keep the Nation strong.

Lord, give them the courage to do the right even when others are doing wrong. Remind them that You are the pilot of their lives, who can guide them to a desired destination. Let discretion preserve them and understanding keep them, protecting them from the forces of evil.

Lord, save them from pride that mistakes their abilities for possessions, and keep them humble enough to see their need of You to solve the problems of these turbulent times.

We pray in Your mighty Name. Amen.

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Dr. Barry C. Black

Eternal Father, strong to save, whose arms have bound the restless waves, let Your still, small voice echo down time’s corridors to renew our lawmakers and to lift their vision of one Nation guided by Your wisdom. Inspire them to dedicate themselves to eternal values and to be unafraid of the consequences of following the highest standards they know.

Lord, guide them by Your living Word, as You infuse them with the spirit of service. Help them to see that nothing they do can separate them from Your love. Do for them, as You have promised, more than they can ask or imagine.

We pray in Your Holy Name. Amen.

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Dr. Barry C. Black

Almighty God, our hope and guide, during this season where each day seems to bring news we find difficult to believe, we continue to trust Your sovereignty. Look with mercy upon our Senators in these challenging times. Draw them close to You and each other in humility so they will sincerely seek to find common ground.

As they seek to confront history’s surprises, may they not lean only on their abilities but put their ultimate trust in You. Lord, prepare them to expect and celebrate the healing intervention of Your powerful providence.

We pray in Your magnificent Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

You, O Lord, are God. It is You who have made us and we are Yours. We are Your people, the sheep of Your pasture.

As we perform the duties You have set before us in the governing of our Nation, as we pursue these efforts, remind us of the wondrousness of the kinship we have with You. Remind us also that we are ever in Your presence, and may our hearts sing about joy and our mouths show forth Your praise. Remind us that our lives are Your sanctuary, and so may we live them with thanksgiving, and may we enter Your courts with praise.

For You, Lord, are good. Your kind devotion endures forever. Your faithfulness extends beyond our lifetimes to all generations.

In Your grace, grant us reminders of Your closeness to us this day. Guide us and all that we do by Your steadfast love.

In the strength of Your holy name we pray. Amen.

Monday, May 1, 2o23

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Holy God, who inhabits eternity, lead our lawmakers with Your might. Help them to not run ahead of You or ignore Your wisdom. Restore their spirits with trust and hope, and order their steps toward Your desired destination. Lord, keep them calm in the quiet center of their lives so that they may be serene in life’s swirling stresses. Fill them with the peace that comes from keeping their focus on You. Help them to listen to others as attentively as they want others to listen to them.

And Lord, give us wisdom regarding how to make our Nation less violent.

We pray in Your merciful Name. Amen.

Friday, April 28, 2023

House of Representatives – Pastor Greg Shipe

O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the Earth.

We confess that Your word is proven and You are a shield to all those who trust in You.

We thank You for the freedoms, the blessings, and the responsibilities You have bestowed on this land.

Father, we humbly bow before You, asking You to guide this House as they debate, vote, and interact with one another and their constituents, and that they would do so in a manner pleasing to You. We pray that You would grant them wisdom, a wisdom not derived from fallible man, but rather from You and Your infallible word.

We pray for families in our Nation and the needs of vulnerable children. We believe, Father, that righteousness exalts a nation, and so we pray for justice and truth to prevail that You might be glorified in this Nation.

We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Thursday, April 27, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Dr. Barry C. Black

God of our destinies, guide our Senators this day by Your higher wisdom. Lord, watch over them and use their work for Your glory. Replace fear with faith, pessimism with hope, and error with truth. May these lawmakers become Your instruments for enabling justice to roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. Give our legislators the serenity to accept what they can’t change, the courage to change what they can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Provide them with strength and courage for the living of these days.

And, Lord, we thank You for the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the U.S. alliance with South Korea.

We pray in Your sovereign Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Lord, give strength to Your people. Bless them with Your peace. Even as we pray these words of the psalmist, we do so keenly aware of the poignance of these desires for the Republic of Korea and her people.

Grant them, they who are constantly on guard, always prepared to defend against the political instability in the region and ever at the ready to fight and protect their national integrity, both the physical and moral strength needed to uphold the democracy and stability they hold dear.

Bless them and the entire peninsula with a strong peace and common prosperity. Enable the Korean people, including families and loved ones torn apart by different government systems and political ideologies, to make room for the possibility of reconciliation and move closer toward the de-escalation of historic discord.

O Lord, strengthen the United States in our commitment to stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies, with His Excellency Yoon Suk Yeol, with the country’s political and military leaders, and with its citizens. May we as Americans serve to be partners in building bridges of understanding, advancing dialogue, and securing for all the blessing of peace for the Korean Peninsula.

God, You are our hope for Korea, for East Asia, for our world. Bless us with Your peace. In the strength of Your holy name, we pray. Amen.

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Dr. Barry C. Black

Almighty God, whose power moves in the changes of the seasons and in the beauty of the stars, let Your gentle strength live in our hearts. Today, infuse our Senators with Your wisdom so that they will walk in the path of Your will. Lord, keep them faithful. May Your love empower them to grow in knowledge and judgment so that they will be able to choose what is best. Amid the haste and hurry of their labors, remind them to spend time with You in order to experience the joy and strength of Your presence. Make their lives gifts of Your love to a hurting nation and world.

We pray in Your sovereign Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

God of us all, we pray Your grace over our labor and Your blessing on all that we seek to achieve this day. Should our sense of success be borne of our envy over another, we pray Your mercy. Should we find ourselves chasing the wind in our pride, we pray You humble us gently that we would submit even our best efforts to Your sovereign will.

When winning seems to be our only goal, when we are so often caught up in our vain desire to overcome any perceived or imagined adversary, remind us again that only in You do we find the promise of true victory.

By the power of Your love, You have already defeated all that we call hateful. So with Your standard of strength before us, may we follow You and greet any fear or frustration before us with the certainty found in You, face any anxiety or anguish that threatens us with the hope You provide, and encounter any enemy with the faith in Your promise of redemption.

In all contest and critique, defeat and disagreement, in all that seeks to overwhelm our spirit of unity and purpose, remind us that we are more than conquerors in You who have shown Your steadfast love for us.

In the strength of Your holy name we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Dr. Barry C. Black

Eternal Spirit, send Your peace into our hearts. Hasten the day when nations will live in friendship with each other, united by their allegiance to You.

May the Members of this body seek to build with You a world without dividing walls. Keep our lawmakers faithful in their efforts to unite our Nation and world. Lord, strengthen them to work together for the common good, as You place Your peace that passes all understanding in their hearts. Empower our Senators to set country above party and place Your will above all else.

We pray in Your great Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, the reports of war, sadly, are not just rumors. For the people of Sudan, war is once again their reality. We pray Your peace over Khartoum and throughout Sudan.

Sovereign Lord, call each leader and citizen to turn from evil and do good. Establish among them a lasting truce between the opposing sides so that no just cause is dishonored but each person is held accountable for wrongdoing.

In You only can peace be found from the rampant abuses and widespread deception. In You only will the Sudanese people emerge from the horrific shortage of food, fuel, and water.

Ensure that other nations in their proximity are not inclined to become entangled in the dispute between Sudan’s warring factions. Remain the judge between the nations. Settle the disputes of the peoples within their country’s borders, that the region would know peace.

By Your power, would that all beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, that none would know war anymore.

O God of peace, we cry to You once again, sure of the power of Your name to answer our prayers. Amen.

Monday, April 24, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

God of all wisdom, You have made Your instructions abundantly clear. You have shown us what is good and taught us that justice, mercy, and humility are required of each of us.

May we not forget Your teaching, but may it remain embedded in our souls and kept kindled in our hearts. In this may we always find peace for the length of our days and the years of our lives.

May we never let our steadfast love for You or our faithfulness to You ever diminish from us. But may we wear them like jewelry and inscribe them on our hearts. May they become like a rhythm to our steps. May our whole countenance reflect our devotion to You.

In serving You this day, may we find Your favor. May our sense of success, whether it comes from You or those around us, ultimately be derived from our desire to be aligned to Your righteous will.

O Lord, we trust in You and vow not to lean on our own limited understanding. We acknowledge You. Make straight our paths to serve and glorify You this day.

We offer You our praise, honoring Your holy name. Amen.

Thursday, April 20, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, who rules the raging of the sea, we exalt Your Name because, in spite of the chaos and confusion in our world, You remain the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We will continue to praise You for as long as You permit us to borrow our heartbeats from You. Lord, use our lawmakers to transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Lift up the heads of all who place their trust in You.

And, Lord, we praise You for the life and legacy of Dr. Charles Stanley, who was in touch with You, enabling him to touch the lives of millions.

We pray in Your loving Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

God, our creator, by Your divine hand You fashioned the world, hanging the stars and the heavens and causing the land to emerge from the waters.

The Earth and all that dwell therein attest to Your handiwork. The fullness of the Earth is the magnificence of Your own making.

We give You thanks for the amazing creation that surrounds us, the thick canopy of trees, the richness of the soil, the majesty of the mountains, the roar of the oceans. You have established every bird that flies in the sky, every animal that moves in the forests, the fish that fill the waters.

Who then are we to be so graced with the enjoyment of the fruits of Your bounty? How do we deserve to stand in the midst of Your garden of generosity? Who of us is worthy to come before You in the power of Your presence?

We pray that You would grant us the purity of heart that our intentions to serve You on this Earth would be worthy. Purify the work of our hands, that our labor would receive Your blessing. Open our eyes to the wonder of Your creation that we would with our mouths proclaim the goodness of Your provision and honor You with the devotion of our whole selves.

In Your sovereign name we pray. Amen.

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Our God and King, we come in thankfulness because You have loved us through all the seasons of our lives. We find peace in the knowledge that You know and accept us as we are. Thank You for enabling us to run and not be weary, to walk and not faint. Lord, keep us always in Your care.

Bless our Senators. Keep them steadfast in their defense of freedom. Give them knowledge, compassion, kindness, and forbearance as they interact with one another.

God, bless our Nation. Drive back the forces of evil, and release the power of goodness throughout our land.

We pray in Your strong Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

O Lord, receive this day our prayers of concern for our world and help us bear wisely our responsibility to intercede on behalf of the afflicted, rescue the downtrodden, and pursue avenues of peace in areas of war and turmoil.

Where, O Lord, do we start? There are so many under the threat of tyrants and tormentors around the world, to include the countless Ukrainians for whom we haven’t ceased praying. They are on their knees daily before You, the Almighty, appealing to You and to allies and friends like us to stand with them in their suffering. Where in the world do we best serve You?

Holy God, how should we intervene in the discord among nations and in conflict within countries? By what right do we step in in order to affect the peace you have obliged us to pursue, when our own country is fragmented, fractured by so many competing views? What do we need to do to unify ourselves around our sacred values of freedom and justice, life, and liberty?

Indeed, O Lord, our prayers are heavy laden with the complexity and responsibility of each of these burdens. We pray that the kind of rest You promise us would allow time for discernment, clarity of purpose, and faithfulness to the tasks You have entrusted to us this day.

We offer ourselves to Your guidance in all these things as we pray in Your sovereign name. Amen.

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal Spirit, You have said that the truth will set us free. We thank You that Your idea of freedom leads to harmony and productivity.

Lord, liberate our lawmakers from deceptions that misrepresent truth. Teach them the fine art of conciliation, and inspire them to choose roads that lead to progress. Lord, lift them above polarization, and give them the power to walk in Your light, to act in Your strength, to think with Your wisdom, to speak with Your truth, and to live in Your love.

We pray in Your preeminent Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Today, most merciful God, we remember those 6 million Jews and other minorities who cried to You, fearing that in the face of the horrendous genocide of the Holocaust, You had forsaken them. For years You seemed so far from saving them, so distant from their cries of anguish.

Yet, amidst the horrific experiences, the heartbreak of innocent lives lost, the threat of torture and cruel suffering, nevertheless, they held fast to You and to their Jewish faith. They did not disavow their divine heritage, even in the face of death. Even now, as the Jewish community recites Kaddish for the generations lost, they proclaim their belief in the Sun even when it isn’t shining.

Use this annual commemoration to inspire in us such faith in the face of adversity, but at the same time remind us, warn us, how seductive is the desire for power, how natural the inclination toward hate, how insidious the culpability of apathy. Lead us not into the hands of our enemies, neither allow us to perpetuate or ignore the injustice to our neighbor.

Remind us that You will not forsake Your people. You will not hide Your face from us, for in You do we find strength to live justly. In You do we find reason to live rightly.

In Your most holy and merciful name, we pray. Amen.

Monday, April 17, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Most holy and gracious God, who turns the shadow of night into the glory of morning, shower our lawmakers with Your mercy this day. Lord, calm troubled thoughts, and guide their feet in the way of peace. Let Your strength be more than sufficient to help them build a better nation and world. Make them instruments of Your Grace and goodness as You renew in them the joy of belonging to You. Let Your eyes rest upon our Senators and become for them a bulwark, never failing. Guard their feet so that they will not deviate from the path of unwavering integrity.

We pray in Your blessed Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, we approach You this afternoon because we believe. We believe that not only do You hear our prayers but You answer them. We believe that not only do You in Your grace plan allow for the possibilities for which we pray, but in You all things are possible.

Sure that You will respond to us and certain that You will fulfill the hopes we place before You, we offer our heartfelt prayers for the welfare of our country, for civility and respect among colleagues, for strength to serve both justly and mercifully, and the faith to heed Your guidance in all these things.

Lord, we believe. Help our unbelief. Even as we offer these prayers, we can’t help but hold on to some doubt that what we ask for will be given, that what we seek we will find, given how hopeless things seem these days.

Remind us again that faith in You emerges from our doubt. In You we find strength in weakness. In You all we desire can be found.

So we yield ourselves to You as we offer our prayers in the power available to us in Your most holy name. Amen.

Thursday, April 13, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

God, our creator, on a beautiful spring day as it is here in the Nation’s Capital, it is hard not to lighten our step, hum a tune, and be filled with joy at the sights and sounds and the vivid colors and enthusiastic displays of Your magnificent handiwork. Thank You for the way You break into our ordinary routine with such extraordinary reminders that each day is a gift from Your gracious and generous hand.

So may we then somehow reflect that special something that is revealed in Your earthly garden this day. May You shine through us the same beauty and radiance that would inspire others to sing with the knowledge of the love You desire each of them to enjoy.

May our encounters with loved ones, co-workers, and even strangers somehow be music to their souls. Somehow may our lives be like songs and hymns that touch their spirits and resonate in their hearts with the melody that You have inspired in all the Earth.

To You, O Lord, do we lift up our voices in harmony with the chorus of creation to sing Your praise.

In the new life You offer to us in Your holy name do we pray. Amen.

Monday, April 10, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

In You alone, O Lord, do we find peace. Throughout the history of the world, we have had tribulation upon tribulation. But in You we take heart, for in You the troubles of the world are overcome.

Receive the gratitude of our hearts for the peace negotiated in Ireland 25 years ago this day. In the time of the Troubles, where violence escalated daily, bombings destroyed neighborhoods, and conflict shattered families and communities, peace seemed impossible, stability in that war-torn region a hopeless dream.

In Your mercy, the faith and fortitude of those who carried both pain and purpose to the negotiating table prevailed. May this memory serve as a lasting blessing to Ireland and an encouraging testimony to our troubled world.

Bless Ireland, that this accord made with human intellect would be upheld by the peace You alone give, a peace no human mind can construct but by which we are each offered avenues for respect and dialogue, compromise and cooperation.

May we take heart in the hope You provide for us and strive to remain true to the peace You desire for our country and the world You created. In You alone, O Lord, do we find peace. In You we take heart, for in You the troubles of the world can be overcome.

In the hope You offer to us by Your holy name, we pray. Amen.

Thursday, April 6, 2023

House of Representatives – Reverend John A. Kellogg

Gracious God, watch over our country now and in the days ahead. Guide and bless our Representatives in their pursuit of faithful administration and wise laws. Grant them wisdom and integrity in the exercise of their duties. In the complexities of the issues they seek to address, give them quiet spirits and courageous hearts. Keep our Nation under Your care.

Amen.

Monday, April 3, 2023

House of Representatives – Monsignor Stephen J. Rossetti

Good and gracious God, in this most holy time of the year, we pray for a spirit of gratitude in this Chamber and throughout our Nation. May we be truly grateful from the bottom of our hearts for all the good You have done for us. We give thanks for the grace of life, which we cherish, and we especially give thanks for the gift of eternal life, which You offer us as a sheer gift of Your self-sacrificing love. We thank You. We bless You. We glorify You.

We pray all this in Thy sacred name. Amen.

Thursday, March 30, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Savior, lead us today as a shepherd. Guide our lives and inspire our hearts. May the talents gathered here on Capitol Hill help in the awesome task of bringing healing to our Nation and world. Strengthen our lawmakers as they deal with unattended needs and unsolved problems. Make them eager to lift burdens and ready to respond in service to humanity. Lord, help each of us to feel a bit of the responsibility for the challenges that hang heavy over our land. In Your unfailing love, give us the wisdom to follow the leading of Your powerful providence. We pray in Your holy Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

God of grace and mercy, in You do we find our hope, a hope that cannot disappoint us, for You have poured Your love into our hearts. God, it is Your love that assures us that in all we endure, through all that we are called to persevere, Your love for us bears us up.

Remind us then, first, to hold on to that hope. As we are faced with countless situations and issues that confound and concern us, assure us, once again, that nothing can steal the hope we have in You and in Your activity in this world and in our lives.

May the assurance of Your protection and the certainty of Your direction fill us with a profound sense of joy and peace as we yield our lives to You and trust in the providence of Your will.

Then, let us bear witness to the hope that is found only in You. Keep our testimony of hope strong and unshaking, that our work and our lives would reflect the sublime strength You alone provide.

May we remain bold in our privilege to offer our prayers to You in the strength of Your holy name. Amen.

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, You are our mighty fortress. Lord, You have done wonderful deeds in our Nation’s history. When we have cried to You in seasons of distress, You have answered us. Though our faith is sometimes small, inspire us to speak to our mountains until they move. We thank You for Your promise in Philippians 4:13, that we can do all things because of Your strength. Today, strengthen our lawmakers, granting them courage and wisdom for the living of these days. And Lord, we thank You for the heroism of the Nashville police.

We pray in Your awesome Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Eternal God, on this 50th anniversary of the Vietnam war, we pray Your divine blessing on those veterans who left hearth and home to respond to the call of our Nation. We give tribute to their faithfulness to the ideals of freedom and democracy, even when the winds of war blew with increasing uncertainty.

We pray for those who, in the ambiguity of conflict, found themselves facing unimaginable ethical dilemmas and who are now left with indelible moral trauma. Bless those who yet tend to lingering physical and emotional injury. Give each of them peace when the nightmares overwhelm and the echoes of battle resound in their slumber.

May all who returned unwelcomed find themselves received into Your warm embrace and upheld by Your loving and everlasting arms. In Your mercy, sanctify the lives of those who remain missing in action and preserve the memory of the ones who never made it home.

Grant eternal rest to those comrades ever memorialized on granite walls and gravestones across the country. May they now know Your peace.

Holy and merciful God, mend the wounds of war, both seen and unseen, individual and corporate–that as we commemorate this anniversary, we would acknowledge the cost of war and honor the value of peace.

In the everlasting strength of Your name we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, we stand in awe of You. Lord, when babies die at a church school, it is time for us to move beyond thoughts and prayers. Remind our lawmakers of the words of the British statesman Edmund Burke: All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.

Lord, deliver our Senators from the paralysis of analysis that waits for the miraculous. Use them to battle the demonic forces that seek to engulf us.

We pray in Your powerful Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Humble us, O Lord, as we pray for this Nation. As proud as we are of the greatness of its strength, the resilience of its people, the equity of its government, yet we are reminded too often that our children still die at the hands of the disgruntled. Evil will find a way, even into the sanctum of schoolrooms.

In our humility, we pray You forgive our sin and heal our land.

Guide us, O Lord, as we seek to serve this Nation. As dedicated as each of us may be, as noble as our cause, as devoted to upholding what is right, nonetheless, our country is as deeply divided as it has ever been, and our steps have departed far from the path You would have us follow.

As You call us to yield to Your will, we pray You forgive our sin and heal our land.

Speak through our hearts, O Lord, when we, as a nation, engage one another. As passionate as we are to speak out of deep concern for our future, as compelling our words in the defense of freedom, liberty, and justice, more often than not, our intent is misinterpreted for selfish gain, our compassion mistaken for judgment, our collegiality for weakness.

As we seek to reflect Your truth, one with another, as compatriots of these United States, we pray You forgive our sin and heal our land.

May Your eyes and Your heart be attentive to the prayer that is made in this place as we offer it in Your holy name. Amen.

Monday, March 27, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

O Lord, our God, we come in thankfulness because You have loved us through the seasons of our lives. We find peace in the knowledge that You know and accept us.

Lord, thank You for enabling us to run and not be weary, to walk and not faint. Continue to keep us in Your care.

Bless our Senators. Surround them with the shield of Your love. When they feel discouraged, increase their faith. Give them wisdom and courage to live each day as Your children.

We pray for those dealing with the deadly aftermath of the Mississippi tornado. We pray also for the victims of the Nashville school shooting.

We pray in Your merciful Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Almighty and all-loving God, we approach Your throne this day with prayers on behalf of those who perished in the recent tornadoes across the Southern United States and for the survivors who now find themselves searching for scraps of their livelihood amidst the devastation.

We pray especially for the men, women, and children of Rolling Fork and other towns like it as they face the monumental task of combing through the debris of their lives, establishing safe living conditions amidst downed power lines and fouled water sources, all the while grieving the inconceivable loss of loved ones and neighbors. Despite our own inability to grasp the enormity of this tragedy, hear our prayers, as inadequate as they may seem to be in the face of this catastrophe.

You, O Lord, are our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble. Grant, then, all who are enduring heartbreak and loss the courage to meet with strength the uncertainty ahead of them. Remind them, though the Earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea, though the waters roar and foam, and though the mountains tremble with its tumult, You, O God, are in the midst of their city.

Lord of hosts, remain with Rolling Fork, for we believe You are the refuge for all who are lost, afraid, and anguished this day.

Hear our prayers as we offer them in Your most powerful name. Amen.

Friday, March 24, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Dear Lord, may Your eyes be on the righteous and Your ears open to their prayers. In Your mercy, redeem us that we would be worthy to stand before You. Enable us to hold our tongues from malicious intent. Prevent our lips from speaking deliberate deceit.

Strengthen us that we would turn away from evil and do good. In Your eyes, O Lord, what does that really mean? Few of us are so ensnared by malevolence that we would not desire to do what is right by You.

Speak into our sense of self-assurance and remind us that our adversary gains a foothold if we do not have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

Guard us against the insidiousness of evil so that our natural response would not be to repay offense or disagreement with our own wrongdoing. But may we find ways to seek concord. Inspire us to pursue peace.

For Your eyes, O Lord, are on the righteous. Your ears are open to their prayers.

Hear our prayer, O Lord. Amen.

Thursday, March 23, 2o23

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Almighty God, our refuge and strength, we thank You that You have set the star of hope in our life’s sky; that in the darkness, we can see Your brightness; that in times of shadow, we can enjoy Your guidance.

Lord, we confess today our deep inner need for a fresh inflow of Your spirit. Remind us daily that human flesh is as fleeting as fading flowers. Teach our lawmakers to number their days, to labor not simply for time but for eternity. Lord, give them the wisdom to believe that nothing can separate them from Your love.

We pray in Your loving Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, we need Your presence with us this day. As a deer longs for streams of water, so our souls long for You. Our very beings thirst for You, the living God.

Be with those who intentionally fast in this season of Lent and Ramadan. Even as they wash their hands, purify their hearts, and draw near to You, draw near to them. Call us each to come closer to You and fast from all that tempts and distracts us from a right relationship with You.

Deliver us from our dependence on our physical strength and uphold us with the power You alone bestow on us. Save us from our inclination to fill our minds with disparaging thoughts and our mouths with sarcasm and gossip. Release us from anything that deters us from the good and righteous life You call us to lead.

Then may we in our deprivation be privileged to receive Your revelation of truth. May we, in our weakness, learn to draw our strength from You.

Break into our lives this season and remind us once again that who we are, what we enjoy, and all that we receive are grace gifts from You. We humble ourselves before You in the hope that You will restore us to the fullness which is found only in You.

In Your most holy name we pray. Amen.

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal Spirit, You are our mighty fortress. Thank You for Your mercies, which are fresh each day. Your spirit restores us to newness of life. Because of You, we have a new joy, a new song, and a new hope.

Today, bless our Senators. Guide their steps, and inspire their hearts. May they use their talents to make the Nation and world better. Lord, be their strength and shield from every danger as You fill their hearts with a peace that the world can’t give or take away.

We pray in Your wonderful Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Hear the cries of Your people, O Lord.

Out of the depths of their suffering, hear their voices, pleading for rescue from the hands of their tormentors for an end to the violence they endure from the hands of their oppressors and relief from the poverty they experience in both body and spirit.

Let Your ears be attentive to the pleas that rise to You from across the globe from the innocent men, women, and children who are caught in the crossfire of the war in Ukraine and from the enemy’s conscripted soldiers who are forced to fight a war that is not of their own making.

Hear the voices of those who dare to speak words of peace and reconciliation into the winds of war and silence the rhetoric of false claims to the hegemony of property and the control of Your people.

We wait for You, O Lord, to speak Your word. Countless wait on You to reach into their souls and give them reason to hope. More than those who wait in the darkness for the dawn, more than these, do we wait for Your power to redeem Your children.

In Your steadfast love, save us from ourselves and from our inequities.

In Your most holy name we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

O God, our sure refuge, teach us how to live this day. Give us relaxed attitudes that lengthen life. Make us like trees that bear lifegiving fruit. Keep us calm when we feel indignation. Grant that our work will bring freedom and not captivity.

Look with favor upon the Members of the Senate, and bless them according to their needs. Lord, move their minds to discover Your purposes. Keep alive in each of them the grace of Your spirit, lest they lose the awareness of Your presence in their lives.

We pray in Your sovereign Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Hear our praise, O Lord. As we stand in this House, in the courts of Your law, we praise You for You are good. We praise You for You are gracious, and Your goodness is everlasting.

May we always lift our voices to You and to You alone. For You are great. Heaven and Earth, the seas and all deeps are the evidence of Your pleasure. When the clouds emerge from the horizon, when lightning accompanies the rain, when the wind passes over the Earth, these are displays of Your creative power.

In awe of You, we set aside all other idols who compete for our attention. Silver and gold fascinate, but we have shaped them into vain prizes. The work of our hands creates marvelous structures, monuments, and memorials of our own fleeting life spans.

But they stand mute before Your omnipotence. They are deaf and blind to the hearts and souls of even the ones who crafted them. Though we are inspired by them, they have no breath of their own.

You alone are the creator. In You, and no one else, do we live and move and have our being. Our lives are richer when we honor only You.

In Your most holy and revered name we pray. Amen.

Friday, March 17, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

On this St. Patrick’s Day

May our worries be slight and our troubles few.

May we always choose right in whatever we do.

Then, O God, may You give us for every storm, a rainbow,

For every tear, a smile,

For every care, a promise,

And a blessing for each trial;

For every problem life sends,

A faithful friend to share,

For every sigh, a sweet song,

And an answer for each prayer.

Sure of Your grace and love this day and always, in Your sacred and most holy name we pray. Amen.

Thursday, March 16, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, who made us in Your image, thank You for Your sustaining power. Because of You, we receive the gift of heartbeats each day. Great is Your faithfulness. Lord, enable us to see Your divine image in every human being.

Bless our lawmakers. Bring to the surface the goodness within each of them. Keep them safe as You give them the wisdom to do Your will on Earth, even as it is done in Heaven.

Lord, give us all insights into Your will and the courage to do it.

We pray in Your matchless Name. Amen.

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Our Father, in whose patient hands the mighty seasons move with quiet beauty, we acknowledge today our great need for Your guidance. Lord, we are challenged by complexities that require more than human wisdom. We sometimes feel like children, grasping in the darkness, lost without light.

Bless this government of the people, for the people, and by the people. Guide its leaders to strive to possess that righteousness that exults a nation. Enlighten our Senators with Your wisdom, lest the darkness of our times hide the paths of Your providence.

We pray in Your merciful Name. Amen.

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal Spirit, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, we are transient creatures who long for a sense of permanence. Give us that permanence as we find in You our fixed and abiding center of faith.

Lord, we praise You because You are changeless, without any variableness in Your judgment and mercy. Strengthen our lawmakers for the challenges of our times. Keep them in the shadow of Your wings, and teach them to show mercy. Use Your powerful arm to rescue our Nation from the hands of all enemies of freedom. Let the tranquility of Your dominion increase until the Earth is filled with the knowledge of Your love.

We pray in Your glorious Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

O Lord, our God, You are above, before, behind, and around us, guarding us from all sides. You have shown time and again You care for us as a shepherd cares for each sheep, as a parent loves a child.

Thank You for the rest You offer us from time to time: The peace You give us as we walk in the canopy of color emerging from the budding trees, the guidance You offer as You lead us to streams of clear spring water.

Because of You, we enjoy the abundance of life. The bounty and blessings that You provide for us are beyond our wildest imaginings.

Teach us then how to walk with You in righteousness. Though so much around us threatens to overwhelm or overtake us, remain beside us that we would be encouraged by Your presence, strengthened by Your provision, and assured of Your protection.

May we never doubt or overlook Your goodness and mercy. But on this day and throughout our lives, allow us to live in the welcome and shelter of Your love.

In Your hallowed name we pray. Amen.

Friday, March 10, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

How great are Your works, Lord. Your thoughts are unfathomable. Open our minds this day to the vastness of Your truth and reveal our need for Your law that we would not deceive ourselves with our own understanding. Cause us to think of the incredible depth of Your knowledge and how limited our own human perspective is that we would discover how much we still need to learn from You.

Teach us that You are to be found in all of nature’s beauty and bounty, and yet You are still greater than all of creation. Teach us that even our most profound thoughts of You cannot compare to the breadth and depth of Your being. Teach us that even when we love You with our whole selves, Your love for us surpasses our deepest devotion to You.

In Your greatness may we, in our weakness, learn to rely on You for all that we need this day and what You have in store for us. In Your unfathomable mystery, may we take refuge in the divine plan You intend for us. In Your unconditional and incomprehensible love, may we receive the mercy You desire for us.

In the majesty of Your hallowed name we pray. Amen.

Thursday, March 9, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Almighty God, our rock and fortress, You put the mountains in place and bring silence to roaring waves. We celebrate and sing because You are always with us. You are a strong tower where we find safety. Strengthen our faith and forgive us when we doubt Your power and providence. Thank You for this great land and for the many freedoms we sometimes take for granted.

Lord, we appreciate Your faithfulness and Your mercies that are new each day. Today, lead our lawmakers so that Your Name will be honored.

And, Lord, bless Senator McConnell with a speedy recovery.

We pray in Your marvelous Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

From generation to generation, You, O Lord, have spoken. With a word You called the world into being. You spoke and creation came to life.

Speak now to us this day, You, from whose mouth came the very law we seek to uphold and defend. Cause Your righteousness to be the framework on which we build our communities, our country, and our Congress.

In a whisper in the whirlwind, guide us when all around us is uncertain, uncivil, and unclear. May we hear Your direction that it would enable us to find certainty, to live civilly, and to discover clarity in the decisions You put before us.

Timeless and timely, Your word remains alive and powerful. May those who lead this country yield themselves to its authority and heed its judgment of their thoughts and the attitudes of their hearts.

Nothing that proceeds from Your mouth will return to You empty without accomplishing what You desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which You spoke. May we hear Your word for us this day that it would give us purpose for our labors.

In Your sovereign name we pray. Amen.

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, who alone spreads out the Heavens and rules the raging of the sea, thank you for the gift of life and for the opportunity to invest in freedom.

Lord, infuse our Senators with strength to meet the challenges of our time. Remind them that humility precedes honor and that service is the litmus test of greatness. May our lawmakers look to You throughout this day for guidance. Help them to remember that they are doing Your work and reward them from the reservoir of Your love.

We pray in Your strong Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Almighty God, to You all hearts are open, all desires are known, and from You no secrets are hid. Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts, that we may approach You today without guile or self-righteousness.

Accept the desires of our hearts, desires for peace in our world, especially in Ukraine, Taiwan, and Myanmar. Grant us wisdom to know how You are calling us to respond to the severity of the humanitarian needs, the atrocity of offenses upon the innocent, the infringement on territorial and ideological integrity.

On this International Women’s Day, make us keenly aware of the mothers, daughters, and small girls whose lives are in imminent danger at the hands of the enemy. Hear their voices and amplify them, that we would respond to their cries for freedom and safety.

The eyes of the Lord are in every place, observing the wicked and the good. Let not then the secrets of evildoers be hidden from Your watchful eye. But to You may each give account for their iniquity.

We stand before You today with hope for Your mercy and the promise of Your salvation.

In Your sovereign name we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal Spirit, source of all wisdom, as Senators strive to make critical decisions, guide their hearts and minds. Give them such courage of conviction that they will ignore the siren calls to deviate from integrity. Help them to walk along ethical paths even when they are misunderstood by insiders and outsiders. Lord, deliver them from those who question their motives and misrepresent their intentions. Remind them that You are the one constituent who ultimately matters and that pleasing You must be their first priority. May they trust You to open doors that no one can shut and to shut doors that no one can open.

We pray in Your sovereign Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

O Lord, our God, we look to You, to the mountains You have formed, to the heavens where You dwell, and still we find ourselves asking, where does our help come from? Sometimes when we don’t look in Your direction at all, the answers we so desperately look for are that much more elusive.

O maker of heaven and Earth, remind us again that our help comes from You. You will not let our steps slip when our path is difficult. You will stay awake with us in the anxiety of our sleeplessness.

Be our shade in the heat of this day: the heat of argument, the fever of illness, the firestorms of hatred.

Keep us from all harm that threatens us: the hurt from an ill-meaning word, the dangers of public service, the injury of our own forms of self-destruction.

Watch over us this day. In the comings and goings from meetings to meetings and in the travel that brings us here to serve, watch over our lives, now and forever more.

Into Your everlasting arms we find Your hope, and in Your eternal name we pray. Amen.

Monday, March 6, 2023

Senate – Dr. Barry C. Black

Eternal spirit, King of kings, and Lord of lords, we thank You today for the gift of this opportunity to serve You and country. Give us the wisdom to invest our lives in things that flourish beyond our lifetime.

Lord, guide our lawmakers. May the reality of their accountability to You prompt them to live their lives for Your glory. Empower our Senators to listen to the whisper of conscience as they labor for liberty. May their first priority be to stay within the circle of Your loving providence.

Lord, give all of us the power to fulfill Your purposes for our lives. We pray in your powerful name. Amen.

Friday, March 3, 2023

House of Representatives – Reverend Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, we pause to give thanks today for the prayer warriors across the globe who have dedicated themselves to this World Day of Prayer. For even as we pause here in this place to offer our own prayers for this body, for our communities, and for our country, how heartening it is to know that there are thousands of women around the world joining their voices with our own.

As they pray, so do we, that all would come to know You better. Enlighten the eyes of our hearts that we would all receive the hope You have granted each of us. May all who believe be strengthened by Your incomparably great power, and may we together share in the riches of the inheritance You have bestowed on all Your people, sharing the bounty of wealth, food, medication, and clothing with those in need.

Remind us today and each day that prayer is our greatest defense against the affliction of despair and hopelessness. Would that we wield that privilege often and with compassion and wisdom.

In the sure and certain hope that in our asking You will answer, we pray in the strength of Your eternal name. Amen.

Thursday, March 2, 2023

Senate – Dr. Barry C. Black

Loving King of the universe, thank You that nothing can separate us from Your love. Remind us that we are surrounded by Your unconditional, positive regard, regardless of our faults and failures. Lord, help us to see that our anxieties and fears, our doubts and disappointments cannot diminish Your affection for us.

Today, bless the Members of this legislative body. Give them wisdom to see what needs to be done and the courage to do it. Lord, help them to persevere in doing Your will, knowing that a productive harvest is certain.

We pray in Your loving Name. Amen.

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Senate – Dr. Barry C. Black

Eternal spirit, You see our thoughts from a distance. You look not merely on our exteriors but also at our interiors. You know our desire to please You and to honor You with our lives. You know our remorse for neglected duties, missed opportunities, and selfish pursuits.

Lord, You are aware that we need strength for today and hope for tomorrow. Today, meet the needs of our lawmakers as they confront the challenges of our time. Give them faith to trust that Your sovereign providence will prevail. Remind them that they are never alone.

We pray in Your holy Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Reverend Margaret Grun Kibben

Search us, O Lord, and examine us; test our minds and our hearts. Analyze our commitment to Your righteousness in the work we set out to do and to Your direction in the decisions we will make. Judge our faithfulness to Your desire for the living of our lives this day.

Test our minds that they would prove wise enough to understand the scope of our responsibility that You have laid on us as well as its limits. Enable us to discern wisely what is the faithful stewardship of resources You have charged us to manage. As war rages in Ukraine, as Turkiye and Syria emerge from earthquake devastation, and all the while our own enemies seek to exploit our vulnerabilities, the weight of our duty to speak, to act, and to wait is heavy on the shoulders of this body.

Test our hearts, that as we weigh the costs of our involvement with the many areas in dire need around the world, that we would not be found callous to the toll these atrocities have had on tens of thousands of innocents, and the inestimable damage that has been inflicted on the integrity of peace in our lifetime.

May our righteous inclination to devote ourselves to these tragedies not cause us to ignore equally urgent needs at home.

To whom much is given, much is required. May we prove faithful to the many requirements Your gracious gifts demand of us.

In Your sovereign name we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Senate – Reverend Mark Antal

Eternal God, King of Kings and Lord of all nations, we come before You today seeking Your divine wisdom, mercy, and love.

From the theme verse of the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps, Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

We come to You not in a state of slavish fear but in an attitude of love and reverence. From houses of worship and places of prayer, people all across our Nation pray daily for these men and women assembled here in this Chamber.

Guard, keep, and protect these Senators as they travel from their homes here in Washington and then to their respective home States. Help them to know that they are respected and honored by a grateful nation.

Their task may appear huge at times. Help them to remember the words of the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta: We cannot do great things in this world. We can only do small things with great love.

From the words of the great hymn writer Pollard-Stebbins, we humbly pray:

Have thine own way, Lord. Have thine own way. Thou art the potter. I am the clay. Mold me and make me after thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still.

To You, O God, belong the glory. Amen.

House of Representative – Reverend Margaret Grun Kibben

God, our guardian and sure defender, cause us not to go forth into this day with such haste that we fail to wait on You to direct our steps, for You have promised time and again that You will go before us. So we pray Your guidance for this day.

May we trust You to lead us where You would have us go. May we be sure that You have already prepared us to do the work that is set before us. May we anticipate the blessings You have provided for us. Remind us that we need only follow Your lead.

Then, O God, as You go before us, be also our rearguard. Surround us with Your encouragement when we are hesitant to move forward. Protect us from those who come from behind to exploit our vulnerabilities. Uphold us as we strain under the weight of schedules and expectations.

God, go before us to lead us, behind us to defend us, and be ever with us that we may enjoy the embrace of Your love.

In Your merciful name we pray. Amen.

Monday, February 27, 2023

Senate – Dr. Barry C. Black

We praise You, O God, for the opportunity to serve You and country. May we refuse to boast about tomorrow, as we trust You completely to guide our steps.

Today, sustain our Senators in their legislative work of sowing and reaping. May they faithfully plant and water the seeds of truth, justice, and peace. Lord, give them the wisdom to cultivate the soil of debate with kindness and civility. Whatever they do, in word or deed, may they do all in and for Your honor.

And, Lord, we thank You for the legacy of our first President, George Washington. We pray in Your mighty Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Reverend Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, turn our eyes so that they remain fixed only on You, for in You we behold all that is good and right and holy. How can we be inclined toward anything else?

So then may we cease to try to serve both You and the things around us. Keep us from becoming obsessed with the stuff of this world: money, power, and success, loving these things and failing to show our love for You through our generosity, humility, and compassion.

May we redirect our loyalty for one side or another, the rightness of our argument, our disparagement of those with whom we disagree, for such behavior fails to show our fealty to You but instead reflects our contempt for Your desires for faithfulness, reconciliation, and respect for Your presence in the people and purposes You set before us.

This day, in all that we do, all that we say, and all that we are, may we serve only You.

In Your merciful name we pray. Amen.

Friday, February 24, 2023

House of Representatives – Reverend Margaret Grun Kibben

Sovereign God, on this year anniversary of the war in Ukraine, we pray Your peace. Let Your justice dwell in the dark wilderness caused by the countless injustices inflicted upon the innocent, in the chaos created by the violence against freedom.

May Your protection uphold the spirit of the Ukrainians in defense of their freedoms and Your provision restore the fields of Ukraine to their vital fruitfulness. Grant Your people peaceful habitation once again, with territorial integrity and basic human liberties once more enjoyed.

Let the effect of Your righteousness be peace upon those who have endured unimaginable hardship and suffered inhumane torture. May the result of the righteousness of Your people be faith and trust in Your favor.

We pray also for wisdom for those in whose power it is to cease the warring madness and restore peace in the land. May the eyes of those who see not be closed to the atrocities that are rampant in cities and villages in all of Ukraine. May the ears of those who hear give attention to the cries of those who suffer at the mercurial malice of their oppressor. May the hearts of those who serve You, take a stand against the transgressions against humanity.

Strengthen the hearts of those who understand and know the effects of evil. Hasten the wills of those with voice to speak distinctly into the winds of war. May none be found idle in the battle against evil in our day.

In the sovereignty of Your name, we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

House of Representatives – Reverend William Gurnee

Father of peace, we pray today for the Members of this body who have been given the privilege and responsibility of conducting the people’s business.

They have tremendous tasks before them. They must seek to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.

Clearly, no one person by themselves is equal to such a task. However, guided by Your loving hand and working together, such goals can be achieved.

Therefore, be with them this day and every day they serve here. Give them the wisdom of Solomon, the patience of Job, and the compassion of the Good Samaritan so that at the end of their days they may have the sure and certain knowledge that they have served their country well. Amen.

Friday, February 17, 2023

House of Representatives – Reverend Margaret Grun Kibben

Put a fresh heart in us this day, O God. Renew our desire to serve You and inspire our spirits with the enthusiasm for the relationship we are graced to have with You.

As we pause today, may we offer our prayers without thinking that they may fall on deaf ears or end up lost in the chasm between Heaven and Earth. But as those with hearts intent on pleasing You, may we remain sure and grateful that You receive our deepest thoughts and yearnings.

Invigorate our work. Although it is the end of the week, the tasks You have set before us are yet many. Save us from our complacency. Redeem us from any boredom we may feel when tackling the mundane but necessary chores that support the mission of this body.

Enliven our speech that our words would not ring hollow but would reflect our belief in Your involvement in everything we do. May all that we say be worthy of the mission to which You have called us. Preserve us from using our words for anything but Your message of peace and reconciliation.

You, O Lord, have reached to us in love and surprised us with gifts of unending help and confidence. May we prove our willingness to use wisely all that You have bestowed on us this day.

In the strength of Your name we pray. Amen.

Thursday, February 16, 2023

Senate – Dr. Barry C. Black

Eternal Spirit, You are not only just and holy, but Your mercies endure forever. Because of Your goodness, we receive Your forgiveness and love. Forgive our past mistakes, and give us new hearts that we might serve You with passion.

Today, bless our Senators physically, mentally, and spiritually. Lord, strengthen them so that they will control their thoughts, words, and actions. Give them such providential guidance that all their own decisions will be made for Your glory.

We pray in Your mighty Name. Amen.

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

O God, source of knowledge and wisdom, give us Your truth. Open our eyes to see Your truth. Strengthen our hearts to face Your truth. Illuminate our spirits to understand Your truth. Fortify our minds that we will remember Your truth.

Give Your Senators today the determination to obey Your truth. Show them what to believe and what to do.

Lord, help us all to listen carefully to Your wise counsel and store up knowledge that transforms lives.

We pray in Your Holy Name. Amen.

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, in these challenging times, give our lawmakers the courage and wisdom to keep America a beacon of freedom. Lord, strengthen our Senators, giving them a sense of Your abiding presence. May they honor Your Name in their thoughts, words, and actions. Provide them with compassion for the poor and helpless, and use them to rescue the perishing.

Bless our great land. Use us all to serve one another with humility, following Your example of sacrifice. Lord, fill us with Your hope, that we may become instruments of Your peace.

We pray in Your merciful Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy and most merciful Lord, You are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. On this day where so many celebrate the loves in their life, may we pause in gratitude for the love You lavish upon us.

The sweethearts we show appreciation for today are evidence of Your grace to us, reminders of Your presence with us, as you care for and cajole us, challenge us and treat us to daily tokens of your affection. Lord, You are gracious and compassionate.

Thank God, You are slow to anger and rich in love. Greeting cards can’t keep up with the mistakes we make in our relationships, and no amount of chocolate can erase past failures. But You, O Lord, give us chance after chance to redeem the ways we have offended You, and in the wealth of Your love, You wait patiently for our return to the relationship You desire to have with us.

On this day and every day, may we take time to celebrate how good You are to all Your beloved. May we rejoice in the compassion You show to all whom You have created.

Praise be Your name in which we offer our prayers. Amen.

Monday, February 13, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Awesome God, who fills our hearts with songs of thanksgiving, each day we lift our hands in prayer to You, for You are always merciful. Lord, thank You for blessing us each day. You have rescued us from dangers and kept our feet from slipping. You banish our worries and calm our fears. Lord, thank You for Your eagerness to forgive us and for Your unfailing love. You alone are God.

Today, strengthen the Members of this body. Help them to trust You without wavering. Teach them Your ways, that they may live according to Your truth. Lord, give them purity of heart, that they may honor You.

We pray in Your great Name. Amen.

Friday, February 10, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

On this day, O Lord, may our voices praise You. Wherever we find ourselves there You are. We praise You in the sanctuary You have established among us here on Earth. We praise You in Your heavens which surround us.

Open our hearts that we would praise You for Your acts of power and extol You for Your transcendent greatness. You, O Lord, are in all and above all. May our praise reflect our reverence.

With everything we have available to us, may they be used as instruments of our praise. With music and musings, dancing and devotion, prayer and purpose, with our whole selves, may we express our adoration for You this day.

Let everything that has breath praise You. With every breath we take, may it serve to give glory to Your name.

In Your most holy name, we pray. Amen.

Thursday, February 9, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal Spirit, the fountain of light and truth, we rise and stand because of Your mercies. You make our plans succeed.

Today, shine the light of Your presence upon our Senators. As they wrestle with complexity, show them the way. Lord, give them the wisdom You have promised to all who will simply request it. Remind them of Your mission to bring deliverance to captives and liberty to the bruised. May our lawmakers focus on pleasing You and not on political consequences. Give them contrite and humble spirits. Teach them new and creative ways to cooperate with each other for the common good.

We pray in Your merciful Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, our Father, what great love You have lavished on us. We need only open our eyes to the affection You show us in the generosity of a friend, in the laughter of children, in the endearing embrace of a loved one to know that all good gifts come from the depth of Your love for us.

But even these precious gifts pale in comparison to the unmerited grace You have bestowed on us that we should be called Your children. That we would enjoy such close fellowship with You, to call upon You as Your beloved ones, is both humbling and heartening.

In Your love do we find life. So may our lives then reflect Your love.

Inspire us that we would love one another as You have loved us. From the love that comes from You, may we show love to those whom You have called us to serve.

With the compassion You have shown us, may we show compassion to those in need.

Out of the generosity You have shared with us, may we show the same generosity of spirit with our children.

And with the same selflessness You have demonstrated to us, may we give selflessly of ourselves to our family and friends.

In love, may we give love, in Your strong name, may we pray with strength. Amen.

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Our help is in the name of the Lord who made Heaven and Earth. We call upon Your holy name, O God, that You would hear our prayers in Heaven and attend to our needs here on Earth.

There are wars and rumors of wars overwhelming our news feed, including the ongoing conflict in places like Ukraine and South Sudan. Nations rise up against nation and our hearts sink at the sight of the injustice and unrelenting warfare. We call upon Your righteous name, O God, that You would hear our prayers in Heaven and bring peace and justice to our world.

We are horrified by the earthquakes’ merciless devastation in Turkey and Syria, and deeply saddened by the unprecedented famine in other regions across the globe. We call upon Your powerful name, O God, that You would hear our prayers in Heaven and be merciful to Your people. Rescue them from this time of tribulation and in Your grace provide for them in their dire need.

We confess that in our own families and communities and in this country, we seem to have turned from our faith in You and have betrayed one another in countless ways. Lawlessness has increased and our love for You and our fellow human beings seems to have grown cold. We call upon Your merciful name, O God, that You would hear our prayers in Heaven and heal our land.

May the gospel of Your sovereignty serve as a testimony to us and to all Nations that, once again, we would call upon Your name. Amen.

Tuesday, February 7, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Most gracious Father, remind us that we never drift out of Your love and care. Faces may change, and conditions may alter, but You are always there just when we need You most. Thank You for protecting us from seen and unseen dangers, for being our refuge and strength.

Today, lead our Senators to do Your will. May their actions spring from thoughts that are pure, just, true, honest, and good.

And, Lord, we pray for the earthquake victims in Syria and Turkey.

We pray in Your strong Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Guide us, O Lord, for many are the plans of our hearts. The schedules we have carefully laid out on our calendars, the expectations we bring with us into this Chamber, the outcomes we desire from the decisions before us are multitude. Many are the plans of our hearts, but it is Your purpose that prevails.

Remind us then of Your sovereignty in all that befalls us in this day. When our schedules are upended, when our expectations are far from met, and when those outcomes we desire escape our ability to influence, remind us that it is always Your purpose that prevails.

In Your grace plan for us, may we find that in all that we intend, You have a grander vision. In all that we anticipate, You offer us so much more. In the results we seek, You have already provided a future beyond our imaginings.

Many are the plans of our hearts, but Your purpose, O Lord, prevails.

In sure and certain hope in Your divine guidance and in the strength of Your name, we pray. Amen.

Monday, February 6, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kiben

God, You are our refuge and our strength, a very present help in times of trouble. We offer our prayers today asking that You provide the people of Turkey and Syria, who are in the throes of the unfathomable devastation of today’s earthquake, refuge from this disaster and strength to endure its indiscriminate destruction.

Be their rock even as the Earth still crumbles beneath them. Shelter them under Your wings until this disaster passes. Erase the divide of politics and past hatred by the rescue efforts and humanitarian aid of their neighboring countries, and then from the rubble may there emerge the shared responsibility we each have as humans one for another in times of suffering.

Embrace in Your arms all who have lost loved ones this day and uphold those who are still awaiting news of those not yet rescued.

In the midst of this tragedy, grant each of them the certainty of Your abiding spirit. May their fears be relieved though the Earth should change, their uncertainties assuaged though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea. For You, O Lord, are their refuge and their strength, a very present help in these times of trouble.

In the hope to be found in You and in the promise of Your name, we pray. Amen.

Thursday, February 2, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

O God, the center of our joy, we find our delight in You. Thank You for the gift of prayer, for the opportunity to come confidently and repeatedly to Your throne of grace. We praise You for Your promise to provide us with grace and mercy to help us in our times of need.

Lord, bless our lawmakers. Give them confidence in You that will free them from fear of an uncertain future. May they live lives that boldly proclaim that You are at work in our world.

We pray in Your mighty Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Almighty God, how good and pleasant it is when people live in unity. And on this day, when many have been in fellowship together at the National Prayer Breakfast, people of different parties and nations have broken bread together, people of different beliefs have shared in faith, we give You thanks for the harmony of their devotion to You and for giving us a glimpse of what is good and pleasant in Your eyes.

May all of us have the willingness to look for such common ground in our engagements with one another, whether it be over a matter of policy or in a moment of prayer. Reveal Yourself to us in the other, that in them we would see again what is good and pleasant in Your eyes.

Sovereign God, remind us that to strive for unity does not mean to disparage diversity. Rather, You call us to be one in You, for there we will discover that the dissonance of our voices will resolve to harmony. How good and pleasant that would be.

In Your loving name we pray. Amen.

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

O God, who has guided our lives and is the author and finisher of our faith, teach us to live for Your glory. Keep us from becoming intoxicated by the desire for success and protect us from the fear of failure that paralyzes noble striving. Lord, lead us through the valley of pride and across the gorges of pretension to the richness of Your transforming spirit of love.

Today, guide the Members of our Nation’s legislative branch with Your wisdom. Show them solutions to the problems that beset our land and empower them with the compassion that seeks first to honor You. We pray in Your righteous Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Intercede in our lives, O Lord, even as we offer prayers of intercession for others. While we offer our petitions and thanksgiving for our leaders and all who are in authority, with our voices we also pray for those who have no voice, for those who have no hope, and for those who don’t know how or what to pray in the moments they are now enduring.

Hear our prayers for the individuals we know and name in our hearts who are grieving loss or suffering illness. For too many who are mute with pain and despair, may the prayers from our lips reach You on their behalf.

Hear our prayers for our communities and our country who are fractured by the tragedies of violence in all its forms. For the many cities and neighborhoods disrupted with animosity and distrust, may the prayers we offer together in this place bring forth a comity to be found only in You.

Hear our prayers for the war-torn countries around the world and for their citizens who suffer from abuses of power, the deprivation of religious liberties, and the brutal oppression of human rights. For these who are prohibited from praying, may our prayers be louder and stronger than the adversary who seeks to silence them.

You alone are sovereign, O God. May our faith be found righteous before You that our prayers would be powerful and effective on behalf of Your people.

In the strength of Your name we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Spirit of love, enlarge our horizons. Give to us this day perspectives that go beyond pessimism and negativity. Lord, enable us to lift our eyes to You, our provider, sustainer, and friend. May we refuse to permit today’s challenges to make us forget how powerfully you have led us in the past.

Bless our legislative branch today with Your wisdom. Help our Senators to follow the path that leads to the fulfillment of Your purposes. Inspire our lawmakers to focus on the priorities that will cause justice to roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

We pray in Your marvelous Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Lord of our lives, may we approach You this day with earnest and truthful hearts. May we be eager to obey Your laws, desirous for Your company among us, and committed to remain loyal in our service to You and to this Nation.

Enable us to keep Your commands ever before us, like lenses through which we look to determine our steps; like reminders written on our hands, so that we cannot ignore them.

And when we walk these halls or take our seats in meeting rooms or rise to speak in these Chambers, may we pause to realize that You are here in our midst. Thus, may we not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought, but prudent in employing the opportunities You have entrusted to us.

Always and with sincerity, may we devote ourselves for Your intent for our lives, not with lipservice, but as ones totally beholden to You for all that we have. Today and every day, may we strive to do Your will with our whole heart.

In Your sovereign and gracious name we pray. Amen.

Monday, January 30, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Lord of life, rescue us from the faults to which we are prone. Keep us from saying one thing and doing another; from criticizing others for what we allow in ourselves. Keep us from demanding standards from others which we ourselves make no effort to fulfill. Lord, keep us from the indecision that cannot say “yes” or “no.” Keep us from the reluctance to break habits which we know are wrong. Today, keep our Senators from anything that prevents them from giving all their loyalty, allegiance, and heart to You. And Lord, comfort the loved ones of Tyre Nichols. We pray in Your merciful Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, hear the supplications of Your people. We lay before You our greatest concerns, our innermost thoughts, and the whole of our hopes and fears. And when You hear us, forgive us for any doubt, any reluctance, and any failure to believe that You will answer.

Silence, then, all voices but Your own. May the words in our heads and our hearts be quiet. We who speak for a living, who have devoted our lives to fixing what is broken, and stepping into right wrongs are uncomfortable sitting back and waiting for Your word, listening for Your guidance.

So then when You do speak, when You make clear the direction You would have us go, the work You have called us to do, the lives You have designed us to live, may we be open to receive Your divine direction.

With ears to hear from even the most unlikely source, and eyes to see what You reveal from the viewpoint of Your throne, and with the hearts open to the stirrings of Your Holy Spirit, may we prove worthy of Your attention and faithful in our response this day.

In Your sovereign and most gracious name we pray. Amen.

Friday, January 27, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Gracious God, open our eyes this day to the things that are true. Inspire our actions that they be noble. Reveal to us at every turn what is right. May our motives be ever pure.

Then may as we live our lives here in this place, may they reflect what is lovely. May our example to each other and to this country be admirable.

And should the outcome of our work today succeed in being excellent or praiseworthy, may we think not on these accomplishments for our own attribution. But may we each take our thoughts captive, that we would instead choose to think with Your mind and reflect on our efforts as participation in Your creative work. May we focus our eyes on what You see and order our days as You would have us do.

To You be all glory and in Your truth and righteousness do we offer our prayers this day. Amen.

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Senate – Dr. A.R. Bernard

Our Father and our God, to whom belongs all glory, honor, and praise, we humble ourselves in prayer, seeking Your wisdom and guidance as we accept the responsibility to guide, guard, and govern this great Nation. As the prophet Jeremiah said, “We stand at a crossroad.”

We join our hearts and minds in the simple prayer of the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures and the prophet of the New Testament. We ask “Thy Kingdom come,” not a future messianic Kingdom–that we leave in Your care and control–but the power of Your presence in the here and now; the power that changes the hearts, minds, and lives of people by truth, righteousness, justice, and peace and thus transforms our Nation, its political constructs, our social institutions–their systems, structures, policies, and practices–that while elevating some, tend to marginalize others; the power that transforms relations between government and citizens, labor and capital, between neighbors and friends, between the members of a household.

Let our love of a free market and our responsibility for the most vulnerable collaborate toward the common good.

Help us to clarify our role and function, both domestic and abroad.

Help us to understand the meaning of our identity as one nation under God.

Bring the spirit of renewal to our Nation. Reawaken passion, fervor, and creativity toward purpose. Let it begin with the individual and spread to our culture.

We understand this is a big prayer, but You are a big God. So we ask You and trust You to help us, O God, and hear our prayer. In Your Name we pray. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the Earth. We need only look to the rising Sun after days of gray skies and behold Your glory as it breaks through the clouds, and then we bear witness to the awe of Your creation. So may Your presence dawn on us this day and dispel the fear and hopelessness that has for so long cast its long shadow on our lives.

You reign forever. There is nothing that is not subject to Your judgment, not our own errant thoughts, our misdeeds, our adversaries, nor our inability to acknowledge our dependence on You. You rule the world with righteousness, and You judge the peoples with equity.

In light of Your justness and Your justice, may we order our lives. In You may the oppressed find refuge and the wavering a stronghold in times of trouble.

You have never forsaken those who trust You. Those who know You find strength in calling Your name.

And so we offer to You our prayers, our efforts, and our very selves this day in the strength of that sovereign name. Amen.

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Sovereign Lord, we trust You to guide our Nation and world. Permit us to feel Your nearness and to know the inspiration of Your presence. May our closeness to you help us to choose truth over falsehood, love over hate, and good over evil.

Lord, move among our lawmakers, instructing, lifting, and guiding them so that whatever they do in word or deed they will glorify You. Show our Senators what needs to be done and give them the courage and wisdom to do Your will.

We pray in Your glorious Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

O Lord, God of peace, we pray this day for the peace found only in You, not as the world gives, for that which is found there is fleeting and flawed. Reveal yourself in this world which rages with hostilities, where there are wars and rumors of wars as far-flung as Ukraine is from Taiwan, where violence threatens to be the only answer to discord. Reveal yourself and grant us Your peace.

Lord, how long? How long will aggressors take it upon themselves to usurp not just the sovereignty of a nation but basic human rights? Lord, put an end to the senseless shedding of blood, the indiscriminate targeting of innocents.

Then may those who have suffered in ways we cannot imagine emerge from the ashes of their shattered lives and be raised up as a testimony to their enduring faith in Your redeeming grace. May the religious resolve of the persecuted in Ukraine, the endangered believers in Nigeria, the repressed Uyghurs in Xinjiang shine as a light in our darkness and show us what it means to believe in the hope of Your salvation.

Turn our hearts to receive Your mercy and transform our lives to reflect Your peace, for it is in Your sovereign name we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, the Earth belongs to You and everything in it. We look to You in every season of life’s pilgrimage because You remain the champion that initiates and perfects our faith.

Lord, help us to maximize today’s possibilities with humble and grateful hearts. Forgive our past faults and failures and empower us to press forward with faith toward a productive tomorrow.

Bless our lawmakers and the members of their staffs. May the words of their lips and the meditations of their hearts bring glory to You. Let not life’s weariness or this world’s confusion rob them of their trust in You.

We pray in Your sovereign Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

O infinite one, Your love for us is great. You who are rich in mercy, bend Your ear to us and hear our prayers. Draw near to us this day and allow us to experience Your generous and forgiving embrace and to receive Your manifold kindness.

Then may we respond with the faith of our hearts and not just the ideas from our heads, for nothing we can conceive in our minds will come anywhere near to the devotion You desire of us. Help us to trust You with our innermost being and not just rely on the work of our hands, for the tasks You set before us are best accomplished when we yield our wills to Yours and align our efforts with Your grace plan.

For we are what You have made us to be. We are each unique witnesses to Your handiwork, created to do the good work You have called us to do.

Grant that all of us this day demonstrate the faith and trust You deserve in all that You have prepared for us. Then may our lives serve to glorify You as we call upon Your name. Amen.

Monday, January 23, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, who restores the soul and gives life in the midst of decay, empower our Senators to accomplish Your purposes. Lord, be to them a faithful guide on the challenging road they travel. Teach them to find contentment in striving to please You and provide them with Your power, wisdom, and strength.

As tomorrow’s difficulties loom large, remind them that You can move mountains and create opportunities. Blaze the trail ahead for our lawmakers with Your might and wisdom, for You are our shelter and hope.

We pray in your Holy Name. Amen.

Friday, January 20, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

O Lord, You are our light and our salvation. In the darkness of our days and the bleakness of this season, reveal Yourself that in all we endure and in the challenges we face, we would know that You are with us.

Throughout our country there are regions ravaged by floods, neighborhoods threatened by mudslides, and other areas endangered by extreme drought. Defend those who live there against the advance of destruction. Preserve them that their livelihoods would not be leveled before them.

In the days of trouble, keep us each in the safety of Your protections. Rescue us, too, from the less evident dangers we are sure to encounter: the slander of enemies, the noise of hostility, the inclination toward bitterness, and the penchant for discord.

In Your keeping are we liberated from all that would bring us low and dare to hold us down. Lift up our heads to face with courage the enemies of body and soul. For in You do we find strength. In You are we redeemed.

So may our lives serve to glorify You as we call on Your name this day. Amen.

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, You are the first and the last. You have made known the end from the beginning. In Your timelessness, You have set forth Your servants to speak Your eternal word to us, that we would hear You in our time. And in such a time as this, we recall the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., who spoke words of forgiveness. May we have ears to hear them this day.

We pray for upward forgiveness that we may embrace Your divine mercy. For You have judged us and others around us, and still, in Your magnitude, You forgive us all.

We pray for the capacity for inward forgiveness, giving up that deep- seated desire within us to get even with those who have hurt or offended us. May we find in us Your spirit which ministers to our own and receive the ability to give forgiveness from within our heart.

We pray that we would offer outward forgiveness, to share an attitude of reconciliation in all our broken relationships. Would that You, through us, allow us to promote a spiritual mindset of forgiveness that even our most challenging encounters would be redeemed.

We humble ourselves before You, acknowledging that we need first to come lay before You our own faults. Only then may we receive Your mercy and will You use us this day to share the good news of Your eternal love.

In Your everlasting name, we pray. Amen.

Friday, January 13, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Generous God, Your grace is overwhelming. We need only look around us to see that You have given us sufficiency in all things: the lives we live, the people we share that life with, and the privilege to serve You with the talents and skills You have afforded us.

By virtue of Your grace, You have not only blessed us, but You have equipped us that we may abound in every good work. So may we be faithful stewards of Your many blessings, remaining ever watchful for those who need what You have entrusted us to give.

Would that we be used as the hands which give Your grace to others in need, that they too would receive the gifts that You intend for their sufficiency. Would that we yield all that we are and all that we have so that all Your beloved children would be empowered to share their gifts and graces and contribute to the work to which You have uniquely called them.

In this may we each discover how we build each other up in our service to You. Bless our efforts to do just that this day.

In the strength of Your name we pray. Amen.

Thursday, January 12, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

We pray Your blessing on us this day, O Lord. Trusting in Your daily provision, may we find ourselves like trees planted by water, that we may receive the strength and refreshment You provide. In this may we face the heat of the day and the drought of spirit that attend the demands on our time.

Reveal to us the sustenance available to us as our roots, our very beings, reach deep to find anchor in Your truth. Grant us the security of Your protection as we yearn for the refuge of Your steadfast love.

Then may we, as a Congress, as a country, and as communities seek to rid ourselves of fear and anxiety by placing our trust and confidence in You. Extend to us Your wisdom that we need not depend on our own understanding.

Test our minds this day and search our hearts. If we are found wanting, be gracious unto us.

In You does our hope find its foundation and, in Your name, will our prayers be answered. Amen.

Wednesday, January 11, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Lord God, do not wait any longer to be gracious to the people of Ukraine. Rise up and show mercy to them as they endure the terror of their oppressors.

For You, O Lord, are a God of justice. We ask then that You would bless all those who seek cover in the undergrounds of Kyiv, those who mourn the destruction of neighborhoods like Bucha, they who seek refuge in Lviv. Be gracious to them and answer their cries.

You have given them the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. But do not hide yourself anymore.

May their eyes see You when they turn to the right and to the left. May their ears hear Your word behind them guiding their steps and delivering them from their torment. May their spirits be led by Your spirit into the redemptive future You have provided for them.

Bring soon the day when You will bind up the injuries of Your people and heal the wounds of the afflicted.

We offer this prayer in Your sovereign name. Amen.

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

On this day, O Lord our God, give us a fresh anointing, a sure sense of purpose and protection, as we execute the responsibilities You and the American people have entrusted to us.

And with Your Spirit in our midst, may we each walk in humility, with a healthy sense of our strengths and our weaknesses, our unique gifts and our vulnerabilities.

May we walk in gentleness, with the power we could wield under the authority of Your purpose. Guard us against our own inclinations to dominate or defend. But spur us to engage in kind disagreements and civil conversation.

Help us to walk in patience, to bear one another in love, a love born of selflessness and mercy, respect and forbearance.

God and creator of us all, You are above all and through all and in all. May we each give testimony to the grace and peace to be found in You.

We offer this prayer in Your most holy name. Amen.

Monday, January 9, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy One, we come before You, resolved and refocused, to attend to the business before us. We pray for all that transpired last week, that You have blessed what was good: the unity of purpose, the collegial ministrations, the common commitment to this country.

Will You also forgive what fell short? Need we list all our transgressions? As we stand here, our iniquities, personal and corporate, are ever before us. Your judgment of us would be justified. We pray Your mercy.

Now, as we move forward, bless the work that lies before us. Only by Your grace will we be able to confront the myriad of challenges we are sure to face in the days, months, and years ahead.

O Lord, abide with us always in the good, the bad, and the challenging. For all things are subject to Your authority. With You to strengthen us, we can accomplish and be content in the work You have called us to do.

We offer this prayer in Your most holy name. Amen.

Friday, January 6, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Dear God, it seems this evening we may be at last standing at the threshold of a new Congress.

I am not done yet.

Should we, with Your blessing, find our way through the doorway this night, cause us to consider carefully what we have learned on the way.

Turning to You each day, we asked for Your help in our deliberations, and You answered us. But Your answer was to allow us to suffer the anxiety, uncertainty, and aggravation that follows when we choose to allow healthy debate to devolve into contentious and unproductive argument.

And yet, in Your mercy, You transformed this foray into discord into an opportunity to learn to find common ground with unlikely partners. Would that this be a habit we continue.

Remind us that while the spirit of dispute can be traced to our government’s earliest days, we have served this country best when we sought to reconcile our differences with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. May we be more willing to wield these fruits of Your spirit in our future discourse with one another.

We pray Your continued mercy on us. May Your anger with us last but a moment and Your favor a lifetime. And for all that we endure this night, allow joy to come in the morning.

In the hope found in Your name, we pray. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Our hope is in the Lord, not in rulers or principalities, parties or persons. And we are keenly aware, especially on this day, as the psalmist has said, that their plans come to nothing. You, O Lord, thwart the plans of nations. You thwart the purposes of the people.

On this day of profound remembrance, may we lean on the strength to be found only in You. Come alongside us and show Your mercy on the American people as they and we approach today with a host of feelings:

The abiding emotional and spiritual unease stemming from the memory of inconceivable unrest in these Chambers 2 years ago;

The exhausting frustration over the prolonged impasse in the deliberations that obscures the way ahead;

The fear that resides in the hearts of families and staffers, communities and constituents, who are affected by the lack of resources and security while this legislative body remains unseated.

We wait in hope for You, O God, for You are our help and shield. In You, we will find reason to rejoice, for despite all that makes today, today, we trust in You.

May Your unfailing love rest upon us, for it is in Your sovereign name we pray. Amen.

Thursday, January 5, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Silence all voices but Your own, O Lord. Quiet the cacophony of counsel and still the storms of dissent, that each of us would be able to hear You speak Your word to us this day.

Humble our hearts that nothing we argue for or act upon would be out of selfish ambition or conceit. But in humility, may we empty ourselves in our service to You and to this Nation. With eyes of faith, may we look around this room that we would appreciate the country, which You have called each of us to serve, and dare to value it above our own interests.

Protect us, that in this imbroglio of indecision we do not expose ourselves to the incursion of our adversary. Watch over the seeming discontinuity of our governance and the perceived vulnerability of our national security. Build Your hedge of protection against those who would take advantage of our discord for their own gain.

And bless this country, that in the messiness that is democracy, we would discover and defend the reward of freedom it affords us.

Then raise up among us a leader who has the faith to live into Your will, the hope to inspire and engender the trust of this body, and the love to serve You wisely in such a time as this.

In You do we trust, and in Your name we pray.  Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Build this House, O Lord, lest all who labor therein do so in vain. Watch over our gathering this evening, lest we stay awake without purpose. Provide wisdom, discernment, and forbearance, lest we eat the food of our anxious toil and exhaust ourselves for nothing.

For You have called us together from the far–reaching corners of this great Nation to uphold a vision founded on our belief in the fundamental rights endowed by You, O God, our creator. And You have appointed each person here to represent this country’s rich diversity of thought and experience, race and creed, that collectively, we would serve as a city on a hill, a light to the world, revealing the strength and nobility to be found in our Union.

Remind us that we fulfill this divine mission only when we acknowledge that we are meant to function as one body. Nothing You ordain can be accomplished without the trust in and respect for each other. You have graced each of us differently, with passion and compassion, insight and oversight, voice and vote, that we would use these gifts to build up the larger body which is these United States.

Deliver us from intransigence and impudence, free us from fear and control, that in our deliberations this night, the light that shines from the dome above us would clearly reflect the commitment we each make to freedom, justice, and peace in our world.

In the name of our guardian, guide, and stay, we offer our prayer.  Amen.

Wednesday, January 4, 2023

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, in these days of uncertainty and change, we turn to You who are the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Regardless of the circumstance, Lord, You are not just present but provisioning, supplying us all that we need to forge into and navigate the unknown ahead.

Give us reason, then, to cling to faith and to trust Your guiding hand in this liminal period of our Chamber’s leadership. Offer us the gift of perspective. Bring to our minds the upheaval taking place in countries like Ukraine. In the face of chaos, they yet remain resolute, ever committed to the defense of their country and the strength of their government, bound together and upheld by their faith that You will sustain them.

How can we possibly succumb to our own disquiet and frustration when we reflect on the challenges governments around the world struggle to resolve in the name of democracy?

Even as we seek to establish this new Congress, remind us that we have a building not constructed by human hands. In our momentary distress, may we never lose sight of Your divine hand that guides our own Nation.

Call us to live this day in faith, if not by sight, and seek always to make it our goal to please You as we serve the Nation You have entrusted to us.

We lean on You, our rock, and pray in the name of our sure redeemer. Amen.

Tuesday, January 3, 2023

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, You are our rock, refuge, and fortress. As the 118th Congress convenes, bless all our lawmakers in their going out and coming in, in their rising up and lying down, in their labor and leisure, and in their pleasure and pain.

Lord, empower them to live with such reverence for You that their legacies will be like the light of morning at sunrise, like a morning without clouds, and like the gleaming of the Sun on new grass after rain.

Lord, we pray for Damar Hamlin.

We pray in Your sovereign Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, into Your hands we commend the efforts and accomplishments of the 117th Congress. The Members, officers, staff, administration, Capitol Police, and all who have endured long hours of heartfelt and intense labor now lay their contributions before You for Your blessing.

Receive the work of our hands that by Your hand our Nation would be upheld in the pursuit of a more perfect union.

Bless the outcomes of heated debate and passionate argument that by Your righteousness, what is right in Your eyes would prevail.

Sanctify both the profound and the mundane moments of these last 2 years that we would be assured that Your grace plan has been advanced, whether because of or despite our best efforts.

Hear our prayer, O Lord, for this past Congress that the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts will have been acceptable in Your sight, our rock and our redeemer.

We pray this in Your sovereign name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Eternal God, You spoke and the Earth brought forth life. With a word, Your spirit breathed into humanity the essence and purpose of our very being. Speak to us now, O Lord, and breathe into the body of the 118th Congress Your word of truth and justice, compassion, and wisdom.

Give each Member the guidance to be faithful stewards of this divine tasking, and to wield this privilege carefully. Even as You grant us the favor to serve You in this place, remind us that amidst all the debate, You will always have the final word.

Your word is alive and powerful, sharper than any two–edged sword. Divide then our souls and spirits. Discern our thoughts and the intentions of our hearts and may they be acceptable to You.

Lay on the shoulders of these men and women the mantle of both responsibility and accountability. Nothing is hidden from Your sight and each will always answer to You.

Call these who represent the hopes and dreams of the Americans who have voted them into office to heed first Your voice. As they uphold and defend the Constitution and its moral principles, grant them strength and reason, purpose and insight.

Bring this 118th Congress to life, and breathe on us the creative work of Your Holy Spirit. Give us eyes to see Your guiding hand, ears to hear Your wise truth, and hearts to hold firmly to the faith we profess in You.

We pray this in Your sovereign name. Amen.

Friday, December 30, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

God of eternity, we pray Your blessing on the year 2022. As we reflect on the days and months that passed, may we show You our gratitude for all the grace gifts of Your bounty. We count among our many blessings the privilege we have been given to serve You in this time and this place, with the skills and talents, hearts and souls You have endowed us.

We pray that the words we spoke, the decisions we made, the relationships we shared would, in Your mercy, have been worthy of the trust You have placed in us.

Likewise, we consider the heartache and challenge this year has endured: the war raging in Ukraine; the senseless gun violence that has destroyed the future of innocent children and robbed countless others of their hopes and dreams; and the tragedies suffered by victims of violent floods and storms, which ravaged homes and neighborhoods.

Lord, as we call these calamities to mind, we pray that we may not despair the past and succumb to a spirit of fear for the year to come, but in renewed faith, may we cling to the power and love You make available to us always.

May we hold sure to the steadfastness of Your grace plan, which is the same today as yesterday, and ever in our future.

We pray this in Your sovereign name. Amen.

Tuesday, December 27, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, we pray to You, giving thanks for all those whose lives You have graced us to encounter. Friends and family, stranger and neighbor, coworkers and colleagues, each by Your magnificent orchestration have been brought into our lives. We give thanks to You for Your divine work in our lives, allowing us to be edified, comforted, upheld, and inspired by their love and counsel, their reassurances, and their challenges.

With each of these people in mind, their faces before us, their presence around us, their lives impacting ours, we pray to You, our God, that each of us would be worthy of the part You have called us to play in Your eternal plan.

By Your power, may our lives bring to fruition Your every desire for goodness. May our every deed be prompted by our faith in You.

We pray this in Your name, that You would be glorified through us this day. Amen.

Friday, December 23, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

What great love You have lavished on us. We look around and see how transformed the world can be just by city lights and colorful neighborhood decorations. But in this special time may we come to realize that the spirit of hope and the joy of this holiday and how we ourselves change in the season is all because of Your generous love and kindness.

Surrounded by friends or family, awash with a whole host of feelings and emotions, or painfully alone when all around us others are ebullient with the merriment of parties and gatherings, we ask that You would speak to us wherever we are, that we would discover that our true joy is found in knowing that You are among us in all our moments.

May we find reason to rejoice every day in these most wonderful of all gifts, that we should be called the children of God.

And so we are, with all our hopes and dreams, fears and tears, You receive us in Your tender embrace. You have gifted us with the purest and most perfect of loves, the love of You, our creator, our savior, and our comforter.

So in deepest gratitude for Your overwhelming grace in these festive days and always, we pray in Your holy name. Amen.

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, to whom a thousand years are but a moment, help us to maximize today’s possibilities with humble and grateful hearts.

Lord, please bring peace on Earth and goodwill to humanity.

Lord, have mercy upon the Ukrainian people as they seek to survive warfare during a freezing and fearful Christmas. Remind us all that humanity is wrapped up in a blanket of mutuality and tied to a single garment of destiny.

Continue to use our lawmakers as instruments of Your peace, empowering them to make the rough places smooth and the crooked places straight.

We pray in Your sovereign Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

In this holiday season, O generous One, may our eyes be open to the abundance of blessings You have bestowed on us. As we spend time with family and friends, may we appreciate the gifts they truly are to us– companions in life, counselors in perplexity, comrades in adventures.

As we celebrate religious holidays and traditional festivities, cause us to discover the less obvious reasons to rejoice: the return home of an estranged son or daughter; the coherence, albeit fleeting, of a loved one lost to dementia; the exhilaration of a favorite family board game.

With these blessings and delights before us, may we acknowledge our responsibility to foster these fellowships throughout the year, to cultivate and cherish the moments we have been given, and to own up to our commitments to the flourishing of these relationships.

We are those to whom much has been given. May we meet the expectations that attend these blessings.

By Your grace, and in Your merciful name, we pray. Amen.

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Almighty God, the center of our joy, prepare our spirits, clarify our minds, and stir our hearts for Your movements among us.

Lord, use us to bring peace on Earth. Help us to feel Your presence in our opportunities to touch hurting lives. May Your whispers prompt us to deliver captives and bring healing to the bruised.

Abide in the hearts and minds of our Senators. Guide them with Your counsel so that they may not stumble or fall. Use their hands to transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows.

We pray in Your mighty Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Come Lord, our Redeemer; quickly come. Send Your spirit, Your spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and might, that this world of pain and sadness, of war and dissension, would find peace and joy in the knowledge of You, O Lord, our God.

In the dark streets of our war-torn world, the alleys of our crime- ravaged cities, on the aisles of our divided Nation, shine Your everlasting light.

Dare we hope that after 300 days of the violence and suffering in Ukraine that You would cause the wolf to dwell with the lamb?

In the randomness of horror pillaging the towns and cities of our own country, will You tame the leopard to lie down alongside the goat?

Can the calf and the lion in our own house dwell in harmony?

Lead us, O God, to this most holy moment, that we not just dare to believe, but that we would be compelled to play our part in establishing Your peace in our world, in our Nation, and in this place.

Savior, like a shepherd lead us. We pray in Your name for our redemption. Amen.

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal Lord God, the fountain of truth and wisdom, thank You for the yearning You have placed in our hearts for peace on Earth to those with whom You are pleased.

Today, equip our Senators for the task before them. Help them strive to make the rough places of our Nation and world smooth and the crooked places straight.

Lord, give them the wisdom to be guided by conscience and not contention. Empower them to disagree without being disagreeable. May they never swerve from the straight and narrow path of Your prevailing providence.

We pray in the Name of the Prince of Peace. Amen.

House of Representatives – Margaret Grun Kibben

When all around are voices of enticement and invitation, the lure of possessions and position, remind us, O Lord, that to You belong the Earth and all who live in it. Such is Your love for us that no power or opportunity can measure up to the design You intend for us, the grace plan You have laid out for us.

This kind of imagining is too wonderful for us, so high that we cannot comprehend that You, who founded the Earth on the seas, gave breath to every living creature. We live because You give us life.

Who are we, then that we dare approach You? Who of us can stand, without sin or blame, before You?

Holy and merciful God, cleanse our hands from all wrongdoing. Purify our hearts from all that has kept us from right living. Strengthen us to deny our trust in idols, to turn away from the false gods we have placed before You.

Then may we receive Your blessing, O Lord. Grant us Your absolution, that we may enter Your presence with confidence and live in faithfulness the day You have set before us.

In Your great and wonderful name we pray. Amen.

Monday, December 19, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Almighty and merciful God, who has given us grace in times past and hope for the years to come, in these times that try our souls, strengthen us to continue to grow in grace and knowledge.

Lord, bless the Members of this body and the staffs that serve them. Increase their faith as you increase their years. Give them the moral fitness to live lives of integrity and faithfulness. May they not falter under the burdens they are asked to carry in these uncertain days.

Lord, bless them with clear minds and opened eyes that they will not seek to solve tomorrow’s problems with yesterday’s solutions.

We pray in Your Holy Name. Amen.

Friday, December 16, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy One, our Redeemer, God of the whole Earth, have compassion on us. Grant that those who are barren in mind, body, and spirit, would find reason this season to rejoice in the bounty of Your favor. May those who are desolate of purpose, meaning, or hope burst into shouts of joy at the revealing of Your grace.

Lord, You are our dwelling place. Enlarge the doors of Your kingdom. Open wide the arms of Your tender loving care. Take into Your keeping all who are desperate and in need, those who are ashamed and disgraced, those who are afraid and dismayed, that they would be restored into the embrace of Your everlasting arms.

For You have called us, the forsaken and the aggrieved, the cast-off and the abandoned, that we would all find solace in Your compassion.

Establish us in Your righteousness and deliver us from terror. Erase our fear and cause us to stand ever-firm on the foundation of Your steadfast love.

In Your kind and merciful name we pray. Amen.

Thursday, December 15, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal and ever blessed God, whose Name is love, put Your love in our hearts. Lord, teach us to love so that our primary aim in life will be to please You. Teach us to love so that our passion for You will provide the foundation of our obedience. Teach us to love so that worship will not be a duty but a delight. Teach us to love so that our greatest fear will be to disappoint You. Teach our lawmakers to love so that they will always be quick to help and to forgive. Lord, teach all of us to love so that justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

We pray in Your loving Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Reverend Dr. William J. Barber, II

Merciful God, help us submit ourselves to the truth of Your word, knowing that what we do only matters and lasts if it is rooted in love for Your glory.

Remind us that You are the God who can melt clouds of sin and sadness away. And You, O God, can bring down rulers from temporal and finite thrones. We are thankful that You are also the same God who lifts the humble. Remind and strengthen us to do the same with whatever power we have.

By Your spirit, don’t let us forget that Your mercy for all those who fear You is real. Remind us that to fear You is to align our public deeds with Jesus, the one who declares, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach good news to the poor”; the incarnate one who said to feed the hungry, heal the sick, care for the least of these, welcome the immigrant.

To fear You is to align with the prophets who taught us to never rob the poor of their rights, and to ensure that workers get their just pay.

Help us to live out Your vision of love, joy, and justice until we can truly sing as though we believe that You, O God, rule the world with truth and grace, and You, O God, make the nations prove the glories of Your righteousness, the glory of Your justice as far as the curse is found.

Help us, O God, and hear our prayer, O Lord. Amen.

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. You laid the Earth’s foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths. Each day, we receive the showers of Your blessings. Thank You for listening to our prayers and for keeping us safe. Thank You for giving us hope even when life seems covered by shadows.

Lord, continue to sustain our Senators. Give them wisdom and courage to do their duty. Keep them humble, and help them to trust You completely.

We pray in Your matchless Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Margaret Grun Kibben

Eternal God, in the words of Thomas Merton, we mourn that “all over the face of the Earth, the avarice and lust of [humanity] breed unceasing divisions among them, and the wounds that tear [humans] from union with one another widen and open out into huge wars. Murder, massacres, revolution, and hatred . . . ”

Forgive us, O Lord, our proclivity for division and our inclination to allow our desires for power and our unquenched thirst for control, create discord in our families, in our communities, in our country, and among sovereign nations.

We continue to pray for the conflict in Ukraine, and we pray that the dispute for land and dominance would, by some miracle, find resolution. Remind us that such tragedy reflects our fractured human condition and our deep need for Your salvation.

Convict us each of our part in even the smallest of conflicts, that we would set aside our differences and instead strive to maintain the unity found in Your spirit. Then mend the broken bones of our families, our communities, and our country, and heal the wounds in our world.

O Lord, abolish the bow, the sword, and war from our lands, and allow all to lie down this night in safety.

In Your most holy name, we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Almighty God, our rock and fortress, You put the mountains in place and bring silence to roaring waves. You are a strong tower where we find safety. We ask You for peace on Earth and good will to humanity. Lord, strengthen our faith, and forgive us for doubting Your power and providence. Thank You for this great land and for the many freedoms we sometimes take for granted. We appreciate Your faithfulness and Your mercies that are new each day.

Today, lead our lawmakers so that Your Name will be honored. Protect them from hidden dangers, and sustain them through the lengthening shadows.

We pray in Your wonderful Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Satisfy us this morning, O Lord, with Your unfailing love, that our only response would be to sing to You our joy and be glad in all our days.

Today, may we be faithful not only in our words but in our deeds.

May we follow bravely Your footsteps wherever they may lead.

May we be uncompromising and honest with ourselves.

May there be no self-pity or self-indulgence in our lives today.

May our thinking be clear, our speech truthful and open, and our action courageous and decisive.

Our prayers today are not just for ourselves, but also for the communities and people we serve. And so we pray:

For all who today will face any great decision. For all those today working to settle important affairs in the lives of individuals and nations.

For all who are shaping public opinion in our time.

For all who write what other people read.

For all who are lifting up the light of truth in a world of ignorance and sin.

For all whose hands are worn with too much work, and for the unemployed whose hands have found no work today.

Hear our prayers, O Lord, those we pray personally as well as for others. Forbid that we should live for ourselves this day, but may we be faithful in our service to Your people, even as we serve You.

In Your most Holy name we pray. Amen.

Monday, December 12, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

O God, You reveal Yourself in the glory of the Heavens and in the whisper of conscience. Make us aware of Your presence as this day unfolds. Lord, grant that this knowledge of Your involvement in our day will influence our thoughts, words, and deeds. Help us to focus on serving and pleasing You as You lift us above suspicions and fears. Sustain our lawmakers in their important work. Lord, remind them that to do something well usually requires the patience to persevere. Increase in us all a hunger and thirst for righteousness.

We pray in Your righteous Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Give ear to our words, O Lord. Consider the meditations of our hearts. Give heed to our voices, our king and our God, for to You do we pray.

We speak to You from the depths of our hearts, words of personal need and unspoken desires. You alone know what concerns us. You alone are our counsel in our perplexity. Give ear to our unuttered words, O Lord. Be considerate of our private contemplations.

We lift our voices, in these Chambers and in our communities, voices of passion and purpose. Remind us, O God, that ultimately, it is before You we are to speak our peace. To You should we make our appeals. Give heed to our voices, for You are our sovereign and God. You alone will receive our prayers.

In all that we do and say, may we reorder our lives, our intentions, and even our opinions that they would be united with Your will and serve as echoes of Your love for Your people.

With joy we receive Your many blessings. And in gratitude we pray in Your matchless name. Amen.

Thursday, December 8, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal Spirit, who has given us the rich heritage of this good land, we praise Your Name. During this season of peace on Earth, thank You for continuing to supply our needs.

Lord, help us to listen to the quiet direction of Your spirit. Consecrate our speech to Your service, that we may honor You with our tongues.

As Your Senators today seek to do what is right, make Your way clear to them. Strengthen them to face the pressures that come with protecting freedom.

We pray in Your loving Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Receive, O Lord, our best intentions for this day. Receive them, redeem them, and be present in them, that in whatever we do, Your will would be done.

Should we miss the mark, transform our efforts, that they would achieve the best outcomes for the people You have called us to serve. And when we are successful in meeting the expectations we have set for ourselves, set our sights even higher that we would strive to meet the potential You have called us to discover. Then may our work be fruitful and of benefit to Your creation.

In all that we set forth to do, may we heed Your direction and do what You desire for us without grumbling or questioning. But with joy and enthusiasm may we choose to follow Your will for us.

Whatever we do this day–what we eat or drink, what we say or think, where we go and where we are–may it reflect our love for You.

We offer ourselves to You, praying in Your most merciful name. Amen.

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

O God, who holds the wind in Your fist and wraps the ocean in your cloak, we thank You for defending all who come to You.

Lord, on this December 7, a date that has lived in infamy, we ask You to bless our military. Give our military people Your presence and peace.

Bless also our lawmakers. Give them the wisdom to meet the challenges of our time. May they not grow weary in their efforts to find common ground. Lord, provide them with the strengthening joy of Your spirit, that they may have courage for hard times and determination for challenging tasks.

We pray in Your strong Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

On this day of infamy, O Lord, we remember. We remember and we cherish the sacred memory of those whose lives were lost in the tragic attack on Pearl Harbor 81 years ago. We pray that their sacrifice would serve as an everlasting tribute to the duty we each have to the Nation You have entrusted to us. May this day be an eternal reminder of the sacred gift of liberty You have graced on these United States.

Even as we give tribute to these brave heroes of that auspicious day in our country’s history, we pray You again rouse in us the same passion, the same allegiance, the same willingness to defend against today’s enemies of freedom and sovereignty, peace and justice.

We need only look around the globe to witness the reprise of irrational hubris threatening Ukraine. Sustain the Ukrainian people in their resolve, in their firm commitment to stand against their oppressors in this infamous season in their history.

O Lord, judge between the nations and settle the disputes of Your people. Beat their weapons into tools that will cultivate the land and not destroy it. May their armaments be surrendered for instruments of diplomacy and stability.

On this day, may we be inspired to lay aside our warring ways and honor those who have gone before us, with a renewed commitment to peace.

In the salvation to be found only in Your name we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, December 6, 2022

Senate – Bishop Christopher Coyne

God of hope and God of peace, from whom all blessings flow, may Your spirit of peace and wisdom descend upon all here present for the work of the Senate. May each of us seek to serve the common good of all, both in our great Nation and in the world at large.

And send some snow upon the ski slopes of Vermont soon.

We ask this in Your Holy Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Prepare our hearts, O Lord, to accept the path You have set before us. In the desert of uncertainty and anticipation, make the way straight.

Then may the valleys of discordant voices and opposing opinions be filled in, every mountain of pride and every hill of self-promotion be leveled. May every precipitous issue become a plateau of collegial discourse, and the rough places of doubt become a plain smoothed by faith.

Reveal to us, O Lord, the glory of Your presence, that all of us, from every corner, from each side of the divide, would see it together. Speak, O Lord, that the words from Your mouth would be sweet to our ears and spoken from our lips.

Then, Lord, come with might, that Your arm would rule in our lives, and our reward would be to dwell in Your generous and gracious presence.

Feed us, O Shepherd, with Your word. Gather us together like sheep in Your fold. Carry this body close with You that we would remain with You this day and always.

In the strength of Your name we pray. Amen.

Monday, December 5, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, we come today seeking a deeper understanding of Your ways. Life often seems like a difficult riddle, but in spite of its challenges, You sustain us with Your majesty and love.

Do you want state prayer alerts?

Lord, forgive us when we think too often of ourselves and forget the pain of those around us. Make us willing to pay the price for freedom.

We bring to You the Members of this legislative body. Empower them to bear the weight of responsibility. Give them the desire to honor You. Lord, fill their hearts with gratitude for the unfolding of Your prevailing providence. Evaporate their fears like the morning mist.

We pray in Your powerful Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

God, our creator, from the beginning of time You have shown mercy to Your people. You have restored the fortunes of those who, time and again, have wasted Your bounty. You have forgiven Your people who over and over, turn their will from Yours. You have set aside Your wrath and spared us, yet again, the full measure of Your anger.

Like children, we sheepishly return to You hoping that You will still show Your love to us. Feeble are our oaths to follow Your will for us, and yet we dare to ask that You save us from our mistakes. O God, our savior, we desperately hope that You will put away Your displeasure and revive us again.

Despite our shortcomings and disingenuous ways, draw us near to You that we may rejoice again in You. Cause us to pause and listen for Your word. Inspire us to recommit ourselves to believe again in Your promises. Be gracious unto us, and give us what is good, that our land, our work, and our lives will yield a harvest befitting Your mercy.

May faithfulness spring forth from the Earth and may Your righteousness go with us and guide our steps.

In your saving name we pray. Amen.

Friday, December 2, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

O Lord, You see and know all things. Strive as we may to gain knowledge and insight, there is only so much that we are able to see, and even more that we do not know because You have not yet revealed it to us. Grant us the grace to see You clearly, that in seeing You, we would know You. And in knowing You, we would find faith in the eternal and gracious plan we cannot yet see.

Then may we fix our eyes on You, from whence comes our help. Show us that You, who made heaven and Earth, watch over us this day. You are our shade at our right hand, that the harshness of the day will not harm us. You are our guardian in the night, ensuring that no evil will draw near to us.

In our comings and goings, from things seen and unseen, in the known and unknown, now and forevermore, O Eternal One, may we look to You, our shield and defender.

In Your sovereign name we pray. Amen.

Thursday, December 1, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal Spirit, who directs the paths of all who love You, in this season of peace on Earth, we thank You for Your word and for the eternal truths that guide us day by day. Thank You, Lord, for another day with opportunities to make a difference in Your world. Thank You also for the sureness of Your presence that brings us peace in the midst of this world’s turmoil. Lord, teach us to turn to You so that Your thoughts can become our thoughts and Your ways our ways.

Be for our Senators a refuge and a fortress, and may they put their trust in You.

We pray in Your great Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Loving God, You long to be gracious to us. When our wishes and hopes rush at us like wild animals, when our personal agendas and self- serving desires threaten to determine the course of our day, we ask that You would interrupt the cacophony of chaos and speak Your grace to us. Envelop us in the wideness of Your mercy and show us Your compassion.

You, O Lord, are a God of justice. When our understanding of equity is dimmed by our sense of entitlement and our urge to be right blinds us from pursuing what is moral, repair our relationships with Your righteous judgment. Then, as You envelop us in the wideness of Your mercy, show us how to show compassion.

God, You do not spare us the bread of adversity nor the water of affliction. Open our eyes to that which You reveal to us in these moments, open our ears that we would hear the assurance of Your voice, and open our hearts to receive Your salvation. For by Your grace, You envelop us in the wideness of Your mercy and in You we will find compassion.

In Your loving name we pray. Amen.

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Lord most holy, who sustains us each day, thank You for the opportunity to serve You and country.

Empower our lawmakers to serve You with strength and courage, refusing to deviate from the path of integrity. Lord, remind them of the importance of seeking Your wisdom. As You give them an awareness of Your abiding presence, supply their needs according to Your celestial riches. Use them to transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows.

Lord, make each of us instruments of Your peace. Use us to carve tunnels of hope through mountains of despair.

We pray in Your mighty Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy and eternal God, with You a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years a day. In the face of the 280 days of warfare in Ukraine, help us not to doubt Your sway over time and Your sovereignty over our lives. You are not slow to keep Your promise, but we ask Your patience with us when we pray for immediate resolution.

Grant each side and all those immersed in this conflict moral clarity in the midst of this horror. Grant us Your vision where there seems to be no end in sight. Reveal Your perfect justice and restore the livelihoods which have been destroyed and the souls which have been crushed. Uphold those who remain faithful to the cause of righteousness. Continue to grant them the spiritual strength that has, throughout their adversity, served as a testimony to the resilience to be found only in You. For in You, they are known, though regarded as unknown; they are dying and yet they live on; beaten and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. For they have found that in You, O Lord, is peace. Grant then Your peace to Ukraine and all who suffer from injustice in this world. In the strength of Your name we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

O God, in whom is calmness, peace, and harmony, thank You for flourishing faith and growing love. Keep us from dissension and bring us to the unity of Your power.

Lord, give us the grace to stay on the road of virtuous and godly living. Bring us into an ever deeper understanding of Your will. Give our Senators Your peace and an awareness of Your abiding presence. May they exercise self-control and be faithful in everything they do.

Lord, empower them to cling tightly to their faith in You and to keep their consciences clear. We trust in You and know that You will lead us by Your truth.

We pray in Your powerful Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

O Lord, You give and You take away. Blessed be Your name. By Your grace, You have given us Your noble and humble servant, Representative Donald McEachin, and we have been privileged to enjoy this, Your generous gift, and we are witnesses to his response to Your claim on his life.

Representative McEachin lived into Your anointing, committing himself to bringing good news to the poor, proclaiming freedom for those imprisoned by the inequities that constrain, and working diligently to set the oppressed free. His compassionate manner and trusted counsel, so eagerly shared with all those graced to be in his sphere, are truly a blessing that we will cherish dearly.

O Lord, You give and You take away. Blessed be Your name. For even in the worst of his brave and valiant fight for his life, Representative McEachin held firm in his convictions that You gave him the strength to endure his sufferings. May this, his legacy of character and devotion, reveal the hope he found in You.

Then may all who grieve this day, his wife Colette, his dear family, his colleagues, and friends, find blessing in this same hope, that in his life and his death, Representative Donald McEachin will always bring glory to You.

It is in Your sacred name we pray. Amen.

Monday, November 28, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Let us pray. God of might and miracles, You are our defense. You are our shelter and Savior. You give daily victories to those who trust You. Because of You, our Nation continues to be blessed.

We thank You for Your greatness and understanding. Thank You for Your kindness, for being slow to anger and full of constant love.

Lord, meet the needs of our Senators as they seek to serve humanity. Be near to them as they work, and guide their thoughts as they deliberate.

Show us Your compassion and hear our prayers. Protect all who love Your providential leading, and fill us with Your joy.

We pray in Your merciful Name. Amen.

Friday, November 25, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

O Lord, our God, may the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to You. May the fields we plant and the seeds we sow be watered by Your hand. May the harvest we gather and the food we share meet the needs of Your people. And may the work we do and the decisions we make this day be found within Your divine plan.

All good gifts around us–the ability to speak, the opportunity to tend the earth, the grace to see the world as You see it, and the desire to serve where You call us–are all sent from Heaven above.

We thank You, then, with humble hearts, asking that You receive the gifts of our passion and compassion, our dedication and motivation, our wealth and ourselves, as we offer them in response to Your bountiful love.

In gratitude for Your grace and in Your sovereign name we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Generous Lord, all good and perfect gifts come from You. It is You who set the boundaries of the land and sea; and by Your hand summer and winter, spring and fall were created.

In this season of harvest and thanksgiving, we are reminded that You have promised Your kindness to us, the gift of rain from Heaven, the abundance of crops in their due season, and the provision of enough food for this day. Our hearts are filled with joy as we reap the bounty of these Your gracious gifts.

Hear also our prayers of intercession for those who cannot see evidence of Your favor, those who suffer the damaging effects of disastrous weather or economic drought, destroying any hope they had for a prosperous yield. We pray for those whose tables are bereft of food or fellowship, chairs left empty because of financial need or family tragedy.

God, may our gratitude give us cause to show grace to those who find few things to be thankful for. May Your good gifts compel us to find opportunity to share with those in need. May others glean from Your harvest and discover the seeds of hope You offer us all.

In Your sovereign name we pray. Amen.

Friday, November 18, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

O Lord, our God, how majestic is Your name in all the Earth. We need only look to the skies to witness Your glory set above the heavens and over all the Earth.

Children in their innocent wisdom offer You praise by the pure joy of their laughter, their loving embrace of the world around them, and their trust in Your care and compassion.

Let us then, this day, consider Your handiwork, the work of Your own hands, the Moon and the stars, the waters of the sea, and the mountains and plains You have set in place. And when we do, give us pause to consider that despite our own insignificance, You are mindful of us. Born of the Earth, we nevertheless are graced to receive Your tender care and are crowned with the honor to serve You.

May we prove worthy of the responsibilities You have laid before us: for all flocks and herds, the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea.

We, who rule over all that Your hands have created, glorify Your name in all the Earth. O Lord, it is in Your majestic name we pray. Amen.

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Spirit of Life, who soars upon the wings of the wind, breathe Your Grace in us. Remind us to be thankful for the people who bless our lives.

Thank You for the people who live exemplary lives and show us what productive living should be. Thank You for the people who inspire us to strive for noble things. Thank You for the people who comfort us, who help ease life’s hurts. Thank You for the people who strengthen us, who give us courage to tackle the difficult. Thank You for the people who enlighten us through the written word. Lord, thank You for our Senators, who strive to protect and defend our freedom.

We pray in Your great Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Today, O God, we lay before You our petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving. We request that You bestow upon us the joy of Your presence among us, that when we look upon the faces of those who labor in these Halls, known and unknown, elected or employed, we may see Your image.

We pray for the health and welfare of this illustrious body, that as the scenery changes and the actors move on, around, or off the stage, You will uphold each one. Guide them in the roles You have called them to fulfill and grant them wisdom to discern the way You would have them go.

Lord, may our prayers serve as an intercession for those who do not have enough courage or strength to speak their own needs, for those who haven’t enough faith to trust what lies ahead, and for those who do not know how to receive the mercy You offer us.

Then accept our offerings of thanksgiving to You for the bounty You lay before us–the gift to labor, to serve, and to contribute our energies wherever You call us, but especially here in this, our Nation’s Capital.

May our words be good and pleasing to You as we pray them in Your most holy name. Amen.

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

O, God who keeps us in the midst of dangers, shelter us from temptations. Keep us from the pride that encourages us to think of ourselves more highly than we ought. Save us from procrastination, from refusing to face the unpleasant, and from analyzing things until it is too late to ever do them.

Today, guide our lawmakers away from the temptations of criticism and fault-finding. Give them the strength to resist the weakness of thinking the worst of others.

Lord, provide us all with the purity to overcome evil with good.

We pray in your powerful Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Sovereign God, for Your name’s sake and out of the goodness of Your love, deliver the people of Ukraine from their enemy’s unrelenting attacks. We pray for the poor and needy, who have lost hope and home. Heal the hearts of those wounded within, who have lost faith and family. Consider those whose lives and livelihoods have faded away like the evening shadows. Shine on them the light of Your saving love.

Help the men and women, those of old age and the children, those who have fled their persecutors, and those who remain defiantly in place to preserve their land, the political leaders and the warriors who battle on all fronts. Protect each of them according to Your unfailing love.

Then may the foes who pursue them know that it is Your hand that has preserved Ukraine. May those who curse Ukraine be made mute by Your just word. May those who attack be put to shame by Your righteousness. And may those who continue to serve You faithfully in this, their time of trial, find reason to rejoice in You.

For You, O Lord, stand at the right hand of the oppressed, to save them from their distress.

And so it is with hope in Your salvation and in the strength of Your name we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Almighty and everlasting God, the source of power and might, strengthen us. Lord, strengthen our faith so that we will trust You in our seasons of joy and sadness. Strengthen our will so that we will choose the difficult right and resist the easy wrong. Strengthen our decisions so that we will not vacillate when commitment is needed. Strengthen our affection so that we will learn to love You as You have first loved us. Lord, strengthen our Senators to believe that Your purposes will ultimately prevail.

Post a prayer for your state!

We pray in Your strong Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy Lord, You have been our dwelling place from generation to generation. Before the mountains were brought forth, even before the Earth itself was formed, from everlasting, You are God.

As we pause in Your presence and acknowledge Your infinite being, we cannot help but come to grips with our own finitude and limited hold on the things of this life. So it is with humility that we offer our prayers to You, prayers that ask for Your guidance in the living of this day, Your wisdom for the choices we make, and Your forbearance when we fall short of Your intentions.

Grant us the reassurance that despite the uncertainty that hovers around us, regardless of our inevitable mistakes and missteps, that in Your mercy, You have already woven this day into Your gracious plan for us.

Remind us that You have satisfied us this morning with Your steadfast love which lifts us up, dusts us off, and sends us once again on the path You would have us go.

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. May Your favor rest upon us as You establish the work of our hands this day.

In Your sovereign name, we pray. Amen.

Monday, November 14, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Let us pray.

Eternal Spirit, who brings a rich harvest with Your footsteps, we praise Your Name and celebrate Your goodness. Lord, remind us that, without Your help, there is no national security. May we focus less on what we can accomplish and more on Your prevailing providence.

Send Your peace into the hearts of our Senators. Lord, take away distracting worries and fill them with faith. Cleanse them from any bitter or unforgiving spirit as You give them contentment in serving You and this great Nation.

We pray in Your merciful Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy and eternal God, praise be to Your name forever and ever. All wisdom and power are Yours. When measured against Your authority and dominion over the whole of creation, any advantage we boast, any victory we claim, fall short.

Humble us that we would acknowledge that all we have is Yours and any influence we wield is held accountable to Your design.

Immutable Lord, You change times and seasons, depose rulers, and raise up those who would replace them. Shape our sense of success into an awareness of and a commitment to our responsibility to live into Your grace plan.

Transform any sense of failure into the certainty of Your steadfast love and abiding faith in us. We are each held in the palm of Your guiding hand.

Grant wisdom to those who seek to become wise in serving You; and give knowledge to those who would discern Your will for their lives. In the strength of Your eternal name we pray. Amen.

Thursday, November 10, 2022

House of Representatives – Reverend John Kellogg

O, God, bless the leaders of our land.

Grant our Representatives wisdom and integrity in the exercise of their duties. Give them courage and foresight to provide for the needs of all our people and to make wise decisions for the well-being of our society.

Keep this Nation under Your care. Amen.

Monday, November 7, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Sovereign God, in You all things were created–things in Heaven and on Earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities.

As we stand on the threshold of yet another day of national decision, center our hearts and minds first on You. As we run the course toward our country’s future, remind us of the grace that You have shown the Republic from its inception, and grant to us again the mercy You have bestowed on us throughout our Nation’s illustrious, albeit sometimes ignoble history.

May we yield to the guidance You have provided that has allowed these United States to preserve the ideals of liberty and freedom, to protect the dignity and purpose of each citizen, and to enjoy the privilege of prosperity. Then give us the wisdom to reflect on our responsibility to be faithful to Your divine favor.

Grant us the coverage to uphold the decency that allows diverse opinions to be heard and considered. Strengthen in us the moral fiber that values voices different from our own. For in Your grace plan, You have bound us together, one nation, under You, O God, that we would bear witness to the faithfulness to be found in unity and not division, esteem and not enmity, love and not hatred.

May we prove worthy of the noble calling to which You have called us today, tomorrow, and in our future.

In Your eternal name we pray. Amen.

Thursday, November 3, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Great is Thy faithfulness, O Lord our God. This day, as in all days, we are graced to see each new mercy You lay before us. In each fleeting moment You confront us with yet another opportunity to observe Your loving hand in our lives.

Open our eyes that as we gaze upon Your creation, the changing of the seasons and the movement of the stars, the bounty of the harvest and the provisions of our health, that we would see Your steadfast love and compassion for the world and all who dwell therein.

Then open our hearts that not only would they respond to the grand and glorious evidence of Your sovereignty, but that they would yield to the quiet and careful counsel You offer us for the living of our days.

Because of Your great love for us, we are not consumed by the controversies we face, nor discouraged by the desolate future we fear. Your mercies are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness, Lord, to us each day.

By Your powerful name we pray, and for Your purpose we give You our labor this day. Amen.

Monday, October 31, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Eternal God, we pray today for all the saints who now rest from their labors. Having lived their lives in faith, confessing the strength they found in You, may they be forever blessed.

You, O God, were their rock, their fortress, and their might. They looked to You to lead them in each well-fought fight. Welcome them now into the same eternal light that You shined in each dreaded darkness they faced in the years they lived among us.

While they now shine in glory, may we who continue to struggle, be emboldened by their witness and find fellowship with them in faith.

And when the battles we endure in our lifetime are fierce, when the warfare is unendurably long, may the song of the distant faithful steal on our ears. Then may our hearts be brave again and our bodies strong to face the trials with the same fortitude, the same faith that gives glory to You, O God our Savior.

On this hallowed eve we offer these prayers in the hope of Your name. Amen.

Friday, October 28, 2022

House of Representatives – Reverend Lisa Wink Schultz

Almighty God, we acknowledge Your creativity in the changing of the autumn leaves. We know that there is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven.

As our lawmakers face another election season, may they rest knowing that Your purpose will be established. Lord, abide in them as they abide in You, for apart from You, we can do nothing.

Provide generous grace and peace to all who work in this Chamber and to the Capitol Police who protect us day and night.

We pray in Your powerful name. Amen.

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy and eternal God, shine Your light into our darkness. In this time of the year when nightfall is quickly upon us, when harsh words and controversy dim any glimmer of peace and concord in our country, when angry attitudes and intransigent posturing attempt to extinguish the light of Your truth, allow Your spirit to illumine the shadows that are cast over our lives. Awaken our hearts to the light of Your love.

Even as Hindus and Sikhs throughout the United States and around the world light their lamps in the season of Diwali, we each pray for protection from the spiritual darkness that surrounds us. Defeat again the powers that threaten to obscure the hope that is found only in You.

Rouse in us the desire to please and purify our lives, and grant us Your promise for a better tomorrow.

Shine Your light into our lives and keep our lamps burning that we may reflect the joy and righteousness You offer us each day.

By the power of Your name, we ask that You would receive our prayers. Amen.

Friday, October 21, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

God of grace and God of glory, put a new song in our hearts this day. May our mouths sing praise to You, our God.

Many are the wonders You have done. We need only look around us and bear witness to Your remarkable creation. Gracious are Your plans for us. Your love is revealed daily in the opportunities You lay before us and the friends and family with whom You have surrounded us.

We look upon Your majesty and tremble when we realize how insufficient our efforts are before You. May our trust in You serve to bridge the distance that stands between Your intent and our best laid plans.

Blessed are those who trust in You. Better off are they who rely on You and not on their own pride, who yield to Your truth and do not turn to follow false gods.

O Lord, You are our help and our deliverer. May all who seek You discover the gladness to be found in You. May those who long for Your saving help soon find reason to proclaim Your greatness.

We offer our songs of praise and the prayers of our hearts by the power of Your name.

Amen.

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, following the spate of mass shootings this weekend, we add Harrisonburg, Virginia; Atlanta, Georgia; Denver, Colorado; and Raleigh, North Carolina, to our ever-growing, though sadly incomplete, prayer list. We pray today for all communities grieving too many violent deaths and tragic injuries inflicted upon unsuspecting men, women, and children, most of whom were just going about the business and pleasure of their day.

Hear our prayers as we seek to make sense of the senselessness of these events.

Tend to our grief as we look for consolation in the wake of the inconsolability that attend these crimes.

Grant us a way forward as we search for answers while consumed by countless unanswerable questions.

God, is it true, as St. Augustine assured, that You permit such evil so as to transform it to a greater good?

Give us, then, eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to believe in this unbelievable promise You offer.

Then give us wills to live into the possibility of this impossible hope and to be the visible agents of Your invisible grace.

Holy God, we lay our finite lives to the infinite mercy found in Your name. Amen.

Friday, October 14, 2022

House of Representatives – Reverend Gene Hemrick

O Lord, the Gospel of St. Matthew proclaims: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be blessed.”

O Lord, may our U.S. Congress be blessed in pursuing righteousness and the virtue of peace it procures.

May Your guidance bless it with wisdom that enables the U.S. Congress to hunger and thirst for newly formulated means that generate order and the tranquility peace produces.

May our Nation be a shining example to the world of our desire for peace and prosperity for all.

Amen.

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Wondrous and sovereign God, thank You for the gifts of a new day and borrowed heartbeats. We trust in Your unfailing love and rejoice in Your salvation.

Lord, Your words are right and true. Your plans stand firm forever. In these challenging times, rule our world by Your wise providence.

As the Members of Congress seek to do Your will, help them to hate lies and embrace the truth. Give them the wisdom to guard their lips and weigh their words. Guide them with Your righteousness and integrity. May they leave such a legacy of faithfulness that generations to come will be inspired by their courage.

And, Lord, we continue to pray for Ukraine.

We pray in Your sovereign Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Lord, as we take this time to speak to You, may we be reminded to use every moment to extol You. May Your praise be always on our lips, now and throughout the day.

And by Your grace, may those who find themselves afflicted by their daily circumstances, caught up in their unwieldy challenges, hear of Your power and find hope in Your care.

If our words seem too lofty, our prayers out of touch with the earthly reality many struggle with each day, we ask that all who need Your protection somehow be made sure that even in the most difficult times, You surround them with the defense of Your angels, and that those who need even the simplest of favors can find rejoicing in Your blessing.

Hear our prayers, both the sublime and the simple, and receive them into Your tender care. Be present among us wherever and however You find us, that we would find strength in Your abiding love, this day and always.

By the power of Your name, we pray. Amen.

Friday, October 7, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

All that we are and all that we have comes from You, O God. You have graced us with life, abundant with love and abounding with opportunity. All we need do is look around and we can, with our whole being, see, hear, smell, taste, and touch Your generous gifts and know of Your extraordinary faithfulness to us.

With the psalmist, we sing Your praises:

Our love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, Your justice like the great deep.

You, Lord, preserve both people and animals. How priceless is Your unfailing love, O God. People take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They feast on the abundance of Your house. You give them drink from Your river of delights, for with You is the fountain of life. In Your light, we see light.

Lord, hear our deepest and heartfelt gratitude for all You have done for us and who You have made us to be.

May we live faithfully into these gifts.

By the power of Your name, we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy and omnipresent God, You have promised that blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Lord, we ask that though time and again we have failed to be merciful to our fellow humans, grant us Your mercy that we would be moved to tolerate, to respect, and to accept those whom we have wronged.

Who is praying on the wall?

Blessed are the pure in heart, You assure, for they shall see You. Lord, though day after day we are too often indifferent witnesses to the atrocities in Ukraine, Iran, and around the globe, we pray that You would allow us to see You in the stranger and minister to them in their distress. Purify us and call us to defend the goodness You desire in our world.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for You have established for them Your own kingdom. Lord, we pray Your protection for those in Iran who are not only persecuted, but like Masha Amini and the martyred Sharif University students, have sacrificed their lives for basic freedoms, preservation of human dignity, and protection against violence and cruelty. Establish for all those who endure the vitriol of hatred the protection of Your sovereignty.

We pray Your blessings on the pure of heart, the persecuted and reviled, and dare ask that the reward for their suffering would not be confined to heaven but may the peace and security of Your kingdom be granted to those who contend with the enemies of human flourishing and stand against the adversaries of human life.

Sure of the protection of Your name, we pray.

Amen.

Friday, September 30, 2022

House of Representatives – Reverend Lisa Wink Schultz

Almighty God, maker of Heaven and Earth, at Your word, the sea was created. Your hand formed the sand as a boundary for the sea. We praise You for Your magnificent, breathtaking creation.

We remember when You caused the storm to be still so that the waves of the sea were hushed.

We ask that You calm Hurricane Ian and have mercy to all in its path. Give wisdom to our lawmakers, especially those who represent the State of Florida.

Heal what has been broken, restore and comfort the faint, and give peace to all who work in this Chamber.

We pray in Your merciful name.

Amen.

Thursday, September 29, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, who saves us, we praise the greatness of Your power. Continue to be with those who must deal with the consequences of Hurricane Ian.

Continue also to bless our Senators. Keep them on the path of humility so that they will seek to serve others. Keep them on the path of forgiveness so that they will give others the same kind of mercy they so frequently receive from You. Keep them on the path of courage so that they will choose the challenging and narrow way that leads to life.

Lord, bless us all, as we strive to walk with an integrity that will honor You.

We pray in Your loving Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

We turn to You, O Lord, claiming Your promise to bring good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners.

Send the goodness of Your transforming word to those in Ukraine and throughout the world who, because of the oppression and hardships they face, cannot afford a meal or heat for their homes. May they know the wealth of Your divine provision.

Attend to those whose hearts are broken at the loss of loved ones by the hands of the enemy. May they feel Your tender love upholding them in these days.

Grant release to the prisoners of war who are being held captive for crimes they did not commit but who fought against brutal ideologies they could not tolerate. May they soon be freed into the arms of their loved ones, embraced by their communities once again.

And for those who sit imprisoned by the darkness of despotism, whose hearts are bound by selfish desires for power and control, shine Your light into their souls, that they would be disarmed by Your peace, redeemed by Your love, that they would put down their weapons and foreswear their malevolent ways.

In Your sovereign name, we pray.

Amen.

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Our Father in heaven, as Hurricane Ian wreaks havoc, protect those in harm’s way. Lord, we thank You that the winds and the waves obey Your will.

Today make us aware of our need for Your presence and empower us to reach out to others in Your name.

Lord, teach us to pray and sustain us by the wonders of Your word. Give us truths that will strengthen our minds, souls, and hearts. In times of distress, grief, confusion, and misunderstanding, illuminate our paths with the light of Your companionship. Guide our lawmakers in their challenging work, for You have promised never to leave or forsake them.

We pray in Your merciful name, amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Almighty and powerful God, our creator and defender, we call upon You this day to speak into the whirlwind of the life–threatening storm surge and catastrophic winds that now bombard the Florida peninsula and have left behind unfathomable destruction in Cuba.

As Hurricane Ian rages, those who are caught in its ravages are filled with dread. Their personal calamity is its own whirlwind around them. In their distress and anguish, they––and we on their behalf––pray to You for their safety and refuge.

For You alone have the power with but a word to cause the tempest to still and the wind and waves to be hushed. Speak Your word. Shine Your light into the darkness of these days.

Listen to these fervent prayers. Deliver the thousands of evacuees from their plight. Lead them to find shelter in You from all that threatens them this day.

And for all the National Guardsmen, first responders, and those who will provide security and offer assistance for yet another natural disaster, we pray for their strength and fortitude. Use them to bring Your hope to those who cannot see their way through the destruction of their homes and their lives.

In Your sovereign and saving name, we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, who daily showers us with blessings, open our eyes to the generosity of Your grace.

Lord, help us to see in the beauty and bounty that surround us the movements of Your loving providence.

Remind our lawmakers of their responsibility to use Your blessings to make a better nation and world. Help them to understand that to whom much is given, much is expected. Lord, give our Senators the wisdom to release their control and ask You to take charge, guiding their steps by Your power.

We pray in Your mighty Name. Amen.

Monday, September 26, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

This, O Lord, is the day You have made. We shall rejoice and be glad in it. For You have given us these waking hours to appreciate the beauty of Your divine design, Your magnificent creation, the seasons changing, and the world which displays Your handiwork.

Open our eyes to see what You reveal to us today. Then open our hearts that we would discover true joy in Your manifold grace.

Bless those, O Lord, who can find no reason to rejoice. Relieve them of the burdens they bear. Lighten their load that they would have the strength to look up and find You.

Comfort those whose sadness dims their eyes with tears. Grant them hope that will soothe their sorrows and lift their eyes up toward the peace that is to be found in You.

On this day, may all find a way to praise You.

For You, O Lord, are God. You have made light to shine upon us. You are our God, and we will give You thanks. We will exalt You.

We give thanks to You for You are good. Your steadfast love endures forever.

In Your gracious name, we pray.

Amen.

Thursday, September 22, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal and blessed God, in a dangerous and unstable world, we find solace from Your presence. We praise You that even when wrong seems so strong, Your providence continues to prevail.

Today, as our lawmakers grapple with pressing issues, give them the wisdom to seek Your guidance. Respond to their petitions by undergirding our Senators with Your enabling might, empowering them to exercise responsible stewardship of their influence by striving to be lights in a dark world.

Lord, open their ears and hearts this day to hear and obey Your voice.

We pray in Your powerful Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, we know that You desire to set Your truth deep in our spirits, and we ask that You come to the hidden places of our hearts. Deepen Your truth in our souls. Speak to us there and teach us wisdom.

Create in us clean hearts. Fill our minds with pure thoughts and holy desires. Then may we be found ready and willing to do the work You put before us.

Delight in us today. May the words of our mouths, the thoughts in our heads, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to You.

For Your pleasure is not to be found in our performance. Our sacrifice of time and service do not impress You. But You desire a contrite heart, a yielding spirit, a kind word, and a gracious attitude.

Lord, unlock our hearts and open our lips that from them will pour out thankfulness and praise. Then may our joy be a blessing to those whom we encounter this day.

In Your gracious name, we pray. Amen.

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Our Heavenly Father, You are our mighty fortress. Continue to be for us a bulwark that never fails.

Lord, inspire our lawmakers to do Your will. Direct them in their work. Empower them to meet each challenge and shield them from discouragement. May they not depart from Your purposes for their lives in their thoughts, words or deeds.

Lord, give our Senators the discipline to relinquish any spirit of self-importance for the spirit of self-sacrifice. Give them also the certainty that You are guiding their lives.

We pray in Your merciful Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

You, O Lord, are our strength, we watch for You. You, O God, are our fortress on whom we can rely.

God, go before the men and women of Ukraine and be the shield and defense of their country against their aggressors. In Your might uproot their enemies and bring them down.

For the sins of their mouths, for the words of their lips, let those who would slander Ukraine, let them be caught in their pride. For the curses and lies they utter, consume them in Your wrath.

Deliver Ukraine, O God. Save its people from those who conspire against them for no offense or sin of their own.

Arise to help the Ukrainians. Look on their plight. We appeal to You, O Lord Almighty, the ruler of all nations.

In Your sovereign name, we pray.

Amen.

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Our Father in Heaven, in whom we live and move and have our being, we glorify Your precious Name.

Lord, we ask You to guide our lawmakers as they influence the future of this Nation and world. Lead them with Your wisdom. Direct them with Your patience and protect them with Your power.

Lord, we pray that our Senators will faithfully fulfill the duties set before them, providing for the common defense, striving to bring domestic tranquility, and working to ensure liberty and justice for all.

Likewise, we pray that You would lead and bless American citizens, guiding them to protect liberty from sea to shining sea.

We pray in Your righteous Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

God our Savior, break into our world which is rife with bad news, and make known the redeeming proclamation of Your love for us and Your plans for our good and not our harm.

Preserve the welfare of countries and communities around the world from the disasters threatening them. Particularly on this day, we pray for the people of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean as once again they battle the devastation inflicted on them by damaging winds and raging seas.

Grant us redemption from all that seeks to distance us from Your love and distract us from faith in You. Restore our relationship with You that by Your mercy, we would all be welcomed once again into Your embrace.

Lord, You are the ruler of the universe. We appeal to You this day that Your saving hand would hold and protect Your people.

Renewed in Your name, we pray.

Amen.

Monday, September 19, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

O, God, our provider, we come to You in our weakness, seeking Your mercy and help.

Lord, give us this day the mercy and grace of Your love that we may become all You desire us to be. Empower our lawmakers to cherish Your precepts and obey Your Word.

Lord, keep them walking in the way everlasting. Strengthen them so to run that they may reach the destination You have chosen for their lives. Enable them so to strive that they may win the victor’s crown. Prepare them so to keep the faith that they may persevere to the very end.

We pray in Your merciful Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Sovereign God, as the world turns its attention to the final tributes of a great queen, we pray Your blessing over the leaders of this country. Each day as we renew our oath to support and defend its Constitution, signed 235 years ago, renew in us our “most sacred duty” to maintain “inviolable respect” for the sustaining energy of a free government.

While this document serves as the framework for the “vital principles” of liberty and security, it is You, Holy God, who laid the foundations of the Earth and of our Nation. Uphold us in our governance by the favor of Your grace.

Likewise, as we acknowledge the cornerstone George Washington laid 229 years ago for this magnificent Capitol building, we ask, O Lord, that You remain the foundation for all that takes place within these walls. Remind us that You, the master builder, have laid the footing of faith and virtue that You have tasked us, the American people, to build upon.

May we be worthy of the legacy which we have inherited, and faithful to the privilege to serve in this House and in this country, the care for each You call us to steward with wisdom.

Upheld by the strength of Your name, we pray.

Amen.

Thursday, September 15, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, who harmonized the world with seasons and kindness, sowing and reaping, color and fragrance, we praise Your loving Name.

Lord, strengthen our Senators to do their part in fulfilling Your purposes for this land we love. Be for our lawmakers a refuge and a shelter from life’s storms. Give them the wisdom to find in Your word a lamp for their feet and a light for their path. Provide them also with the resolve to walk in that light and follow Your guidance. In Your compassion, free them from the cares that deplete their trust in You.

We pray in Your merciful Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, come alongside us this day for in Your presence there is fullness of joy. So fill us with Your joy this day that we cannot help but reflect Your goodness and mercy in all we do, in all we say, in all our decisions, and in all our encounters with one another.

At Your right hand is pleasure to be found forever more. All that we need or desire, You provide. From the wealth of the satisfaction we find in You, may an abundance of gratitude flow from us that others would share in Your generous grace.

In You, love is found, for You are love. Let us then love one another for love comes from You. And so may Your love shine forth in us this day, that your compassion, concern, forbearance, and faithfulness be evident in this place this day.

In Your steadfast and loving name we pray.

Amen.

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Almighty God, Lord of hosts, we praise You for choosing to make Yourself known to us in the unfolding of Your loving providence. Our hearts expand with joy because of Your presence. Empower us to keep our minds steadfastly on You.

Lord, use our Senators to make a better Nation and world. Give them an openness of mind and heart that they may receive the fullness of Your grace. Consecrate them to the laudable task of permitting Your kingdom to flourish in this generation and beyond.

Lord, make our lawmakers instruments of Your peace.

We pray in Your strong Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

God, our rock and our salvation, our prayers are, once again, offered unto You on behalf of Ukraine. Many are its foes. The fearful within its borders yearn for the strength of Your justice. The adversaries who surround them are saying that You will not deliver them.

But You, O Lord, have proven to be a shield around them. You are the source of their strength, the one who lifts their heads to face their enemies.

In these seemingly never-ending days and months of conflict, in their waking and their sleeping, Lord, sustain the men and women of Ukraine. May they not give in to fear though they are continually assailed on every front. May their faith in You uphold them.

Arise, O Lord, and deliver the people of Ukraine. From You alone comes deliverance. May Your blessing be upon Your people.

In Your mighty name we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Our Father and our God, in the silence of this moment, we feel gratitude for the privilege of approaching Your throne of grace. Lord, we come to You aware that You know us better than we know ourselves. We are grateful that You know what we need even before we ask. Forgive our mistakes and the wrong we have done.

Lord, You know that, at times, we have been difficult to live with. Enliven our lawmakers. Let Your power come among them, as You direct them according to Your will. Remind them that their lives, Nation, and world are in Your hands.

We pray in Your mighty Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Eternal God, You have received into Your holy presence Your servant, Queen Elizabeth II. As she lays down her crown before Your throne, grant her rest from her labors and reward for her toil.

Remove from her shoulders the responsibilities You bestowed upon her, which she bore faithfully. Honor her for the devotion she has shown throughout her lifetime to You and to Your people.

Give peace to the people of the United Kingdom that in this period of mourning and transition, they will call upon their noble history and exercise the dignity of their heritage. Inspire in them the desire to uphold the divine values their Queen strove so diligently to protect.

May her memory be a blessing and her virtue a standard.

Then above all the pomp and circumstance, speak to leaders around the world to remind them that kingdoms and principalities are ever subject to Your will. Their rise and fall are at Your decree. Grant peace and prosperity to all who are placed in positions of power, who heed Your word and yield to Your authority. And may we who are called to serve You in these days, be a crown of beauty and a royal diadem in Your hand, O Lord our God.

In Your sovereign name we pray. Amen.

Monday, September 12, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, who hears our prayers, we praise Your righteous Name. Lord, You are the God who listens even to our groans as we bring our requests to You.

Lord, we thank You for the life and legacy of Queen Elizabeth II and request Your blessings upon King Charles III. Guide him with Your wisdom and keep him on the path of integrity. We also pray for our senators. Sustain them with Your unfailing love, making Your way plain for them to follow. Protect them from the enemies of freedom, for You have promised to be a shield for the godly.

We pray in Your loving name. Amen.

Friday, September 9, 2022

House of Representatives – Monsignor Stephen J. Rossetti

Good and gracious God, today we experience so much division and distrust in our nation. Unite us in Your one spirit. Heal our divisions. Give us a spirit of holy obedience and trust that, under the leaders of our nation, we may journey together to build up Your kingdom on this earth and one day inherit the kingdom of eternity.

We pray this in Your most holy name. Amen.

Thursday, September 8, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

O Rock of our salvation, You alone are our hope for the years to come. Because of Your mercies, You have given us the gift of this day. You have been our help in ages past, and we place our future in Your hands.

Lord, forgive us when we do things our way, refusing to submit to Your holy will and seeking to derail Your wise and powerful providence. Remind us to seek first to stay within the circle of Your divine purposes, for You are God, and we are not.

Today, use our lawmakers for Your glory. Give them the unity they need to accomplish Your will. Guide them with Your wisdom.

We pray in Your matchless name. Amen.

Wednesday, September 7, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

God, You are life, wisdom, truth, and blessedness. You are our hope and the center of our joy. Lord, the founders of this great nation walked in Your guidance and rested in Your compassion. Unite us so that we can do Your will. Remove from us all evil desires and empower us to embrace the good. Speak to our senators so that they may understand Your will for our nation and world. Illuminate their understanding with beings of celestial grace. Make us thankful for the privilege of prayer. May we never take it for granted.

And Lord, we continue to pray for Ukraine.

We pray in Your merciful name. Amen.

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Beautiful Savior, You have been our dwelling place in all generations, and we are sustained by Your steadfast love.

Today surround our senators with the shield of Your blessings as they work to keep our nation strong. Lord, teach them to be obedient to Your commands, doing Your good will as Your presence fills them with peace. May they be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Manifest Your power through their labors so that this nation will be exalted by righteousness.

May Your angels guard us in all our ways.

We pray in Your mighty name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Eternal God, our time is in Your hands. Every precious minute we share with friends, family, loved ones, and colleagues is a reminder of the many gifts we are given to cherish.

Hour by hour, as we clock the passing of time with our meetings and appointments, remind us that we are called to set our schedules wisely and to exercise the skills and abilities as You have graced us, all for the betterment of our communities, the health and welfare of our nation, and peace in the world.

When each dawn breaks, may we greet it, rejoicing in the day You have made. And at the setting of the sun, may we pause to give You thanks that You have guided our steps and directed us on the paths You would have us go.

Allow us, then, to see Your presence in the minutes, hours, and days we are given. In each moment that You lavish upon us, may our spirits be renewed, our purpose made clear, and our lives proclaim the grace You have shown us.

We offer our prayers in Your everlasting and timeless name. Amen.

Friday, September 2, 2022

House of Representatives – Reverend Zack Randles

Gracious, Almighty God, we come before You today grateful for the privilege to serve and to support those that You have placed under our leadership. Give us an eagerness to be good shepherds, just as You are our good shepherd.

May we view our fellow man with eyes of compassion.

May we give voice to those needing courage and relief to the harassed and helpless.

May we be willing to consider others better than ourselves, with wisdom and humility being our identifying attributes.

May we know when to respond with strength and when to correct with gentleness, and may we find comfort in the nudges from Your guiding hands leading us toward righteousness.

I ask all of this in the holy name of Jesus. Amen.

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

House of Representatives – Reverend Gene Hemrick

O Lord, Albert Einstein once thanked You for sharing with us divine harmony within our universe.

We especially thank You for the harmony of the four seasons.

As fall approaches, may Congress and our Nation be blessed with the inspiring harmony that is at the heart of the greatness You have bestowed on us throughout our history.

Amen.

Friday, August 26, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

To You, O Lord, we lift up our souls. All that we are, all that we hope to be, we give to You. For in You, O God, we place our trust, knowing that Your grace is our shield, Your love our defense.

Show us Your ways, O Lord, and lead us according to Your paths. Do not allow Your will to be hidden from us, but guide us in the light of Your truth. Forbid it that we remain ignorant or indifferent to Your direction, but may we respond to Your clear instruction and discern the way You would have us go.

For You are the God of our salvation. In You, time, as we measure it, cannot contain the depth of Your grace plan. We need only wait on You, and all things will be made known in accordance with Your infinite intent for our lives.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for us, too great for us to understand. So may we trust that You will hem us in behind and before, that You will lay Your hand on us. In this may we trust in and enjoy Your abiding presence with us this day.

We offer our prayers in the power of Your most holy name. Amen.

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

On this day, O God, we call upon You. May our prayers rise like incense to You, the lifting up of our hearts and hands be like an acceptable sacrifice.

Come quickly to us. Hear our voices as we appeal to You. We offer to You our innermost thoughts, our heartfelt desires, our looming concerns, and our deepest hopes. Receive them all into Your grace.

Then redeem us, we who strive to be the people You desire us to be into the people You desire us to be. May our service be well-pleasing to You.

In all that we do and all that we say, look down with mercy upon us and receive with appreciation our most humble offerings. Transform our most feeble attempts to do the right thing, to the right thing to do.

We yield our whole selves to You this day, that You would use us to succeed in the work You set before us and to live into the responsibilities You have laid upon us. May Your will be done here in this place. And may You be glorified in our lives.

We offer our prayers in the power of Your most holy name. Amen.

Friday, August 19, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Omnipotent Lord, remind us this day of all You can do. Open the apertures of both our hearts and minds that we would see and believe that there is no violence You cannot suppress, no injustice You cannot reverse, and no evil You cannot overcome.

Help us to enter into this holy mystery that You would allow us to be the instruments of Your peace, the agents of Your justice, the champions of Your divine love.

Reassure us that there is no inadequacy that You don’t make whole, no fear that You don’t assuage, and no sin that You have not redeemed.

Then, with confidence and courage, may we go forth and do our part in Your grace plan for this day.

We offer our prayers strengthened by Your presence and empowered by Your most holy name.

Amen.

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Mighty and all-powerful God, who are we that You should love us? For we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory You shared with us at creation.

Who are we that You should use us? For there is not a righteous person on Earth who does good and never fails in Your sight.

Who are we to dare to come into Your company? For mountains quake, the hills dissolve, and all are overwhelmed in Your awesome presence.

And yet, You have shown Your love to us while we are yet sinners. Your favor rests upon us and You prosper for us the work of our hands. You let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith in the mercy You offer to each one of us.

So may we be open to receive Your love and be willing to be used according to Your will and to seek You throughout this day, that we may and will do all things by the strength You provide.

Now to You who are able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to Your power that is at work within us, we offer our prayers in Your most holy name. Amen.

Friday, August 12, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, receive us into Your eternal presence and grant us the discernment of Your direction and the peace of Your purpose for the deliberations of this day. Silence, if only for a moment, all voices but Your own, that we would hear Your counsel and receive Your instruction without the echoes of competing opinion or the whispers of our own self desire.

Speak in words that we can hear, whether in a still, small voice of encouragement or a clarion call to action, may we receive Your message for us today.

Sway our hearts to Your desire that in all we say and do we would strive to live into Your will. Then share with us the blessing of the sacrament of human encounter, that in the outward visible signs You provide, a stranger’s selfless service, shared laughter with a friend, or a random glimpse of the pure beauty of Your creation, we would experience the inward, invisible grace You offer us in each moment.

Would that Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayers we offer in this place, for it is in the promise of Your name we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, August 9, 2022

House of Representatives – Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff

Almighty God, we pray, reflect, meditate in different ways, but historic cherished words become shared dreams.

Elmer Davis wrote: “This Nation shall be the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.” But not all are yet truly free, and many not so brave. Military heroes risk their lives, but many others lack sufficient courage to speak truth to power, to champion truth over position or career.

“Liberty and justice for all,” we pledge, “Proclaim liberty throughout the land” is emblazoned on our bell.

As war approached, FDR affirmed “freedom from want” and “freedom from fear” as freedoms more like dreams of better times.

The land of the free if the home of the brave–with leaders strong and of good courage who still can say “I have a dream.” Diversity our strength, equality our goal, may we strive for, move toward, liberty and justice for us all.

And may we say “Amen.”

Saturday, August 6, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Our Father in Heaven, we sing of Your steadfast love and proclaim Your faithfulness to all generations.

Lord, make us one nation, truly wise with righteousness, exalting us in due season. Today, inspire our lawmakers to walk in the light of Your countenance. Abide with them so that Your wisdom will influence each decision. Keep them from evil so that they will not be brought to grief, enabling them to avoid the pitfalls that lead to ruin. Empower them to glorify You in all they think, say, and do.

And, Lord, we thank You for our faithful senate pages.

We pray in Your loving name. Amen.

Friday, August 5, 2022

House of Representatives – Reverend Vincent DeRosa

Good and gracious God who orders all things well and beautifully, grant to this people’s House wisdom and prudence that amid the ever-changing dynamics of a complex world we may secure justice and prosperity for our countrymen and peaceful coexistence with our neighbors. In a particular way, we ask You to hear our prayers for the sick or infirm in our land: grant them healing and bless their caregivers. Finally, author of life, we ask You to watch over the deceased whom we commend to Your care and those who grieve for them.

Amen.

Thursday, August 4, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal Father, our souls long for You, for we find strength and wisdom in Your presence. Guide our lawmakers to put their trust in You, seeking in every undertaking to know and do Your will. When they go through difficulties, may they remember that, with Your help, they can accomplish the seemingly impossible. Give them a faith that will trust You even when the darkness is blacker than a thousand midnights.

And, Lord, as we mourn the deaths of Congresswoman Jackie Walorski and her two staffers Zachery and Emma, comfort our hearts.

We pray in Your merciful Name. Amen.

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

O God, our shield, look with favor upon our Senators today. Guide them around the obstacles that hinder their progress, uniting them for the common good of this great land. Lord, free them from anxiety and fear as they put their trust in You. Enable them to go from strength to strength, fulfilling Your purpose for their lives in this generation.

Guide them to use their abilities to accomplish Your holy will. Striving to please You, empower them to stand for right and leave the consequences to You.

We pray in Your holy Name. Amen.

Tuesday, August 2, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, our hearts are steadfast for You. Though evil sometimes seems to prosper, we trust You to cause justice to prevail. In these turbulent times, our hope is in Your goodness that continues to sustain us.

Today, give our Senators the ability to realize more fully that they are servants of Heaven. As good servants, give them Your perspective on their daily tasks and decisions. In faithfulness to You, provide the litmus test by which they evaluate each decision.

Lord, give our lawmakers such integrity that they will refuse to be careless about their spiritual and moral fitness.

We pray in Your strong Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Margaret Grun Kibben

With the psalmist, we give thanks to You, O Lord, for You are good. Your love endures forever.

As we consider the 80th anniversary of the WAVES, the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, signed into law July 30, 1942, remind us again of the long-lasting and vital impact decisions made in these Chambers truly have in defense of this country and for the welfare of its future.

Celebrating the innumerable contributions these first women made on intelligence, communications, and cryptology, to name a few, we give You our gratitude that You have put before this body critical opportunities to leverage the gifts and graces of all our fellow Americans for the common good.

May their experience of fortitude and resilience, faith and devotion to our country, in war and in peace, serve as a testimony of how You respond in times of trouble, how You deliver us from distress. Even now, You still the storms that rage to a whisper and bring the waves that roar to a hush.

Lord, we have seen the works of Your hands and Your wonderful deeds. Let those who are wise heed the history of Your faithfulness, and may we ponder Your loving deeds. We offer ourselves and our prayers for Your service.

Amen.

Monday, August 1, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Lord God of Heaven and Earth, thank You for the joy that comes to those who delight in Your presence. Your mercies are new each day, for You sustain us with Your wisdom as we follow Your leading.

Post a prayer for your state!

Today, continue to sustain our lawmakers as they embrace Your precepts and walk in Your path. Remind them that Your way enables them to become instruments for goodness in our Nation and world. Help them also to see that it is the difficult road that leads to life, and few find it.

As our Senators receive guidance from You, give them attentive hearts and open minds. Enable them to find in the diversity of ideas what is best for our Nation and world.

We pray in your merciful Name. Amen.

Friday, July 29, 2022

House of Representatives – Margaret Grun Kibben

Lord, it is good and fitting to eat, drink, and find enjoyment alongside the work with which we labor, and recreation in the days You have given us.

So it is on this day that we come to You in gratitude for the pleasure received not only in the privilege to serve You here in this place, but for the enjoyment of a good ball game, the civil rivalry of peers, and the abundant fellowship and support of friends and fans.

Now, having fought the good fight, may we finish the week, prolonging the collegial spirit found on the field, and upholding the shared commitment that brings us together for the common good.

Grant comfort to the defeated, humility to the victors, respite to the weary, and wisdom to us all.

Renewed by Your spirit we offer these prayers in Your everlasting name. Amen.

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, today, make our lawmakers instruments of Your grace and goodness. Teach them to be patient with themselves and others. Forgive them when they permit impatience to lead them astray, making them miss the wonder and majesty of Your purpose for our Nation and world.

Lord, renew in our Senators the joy of belonging to You, as they lovingly yield to Your guidance. Direct their steps so that no duty will be left undone and no constructive words will be left unsaid.

We pray in Your great Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Immortal, invisible, God only wise, deepen the appreciation of Your truth in our hearts. Unchanging, unwavering, God eternal, root Your strength in our souls.

For Your word endures forever, and your counsel stands for perpetuity. May our meager efforts find their foundation in Your eternal plan. May our decisions be rooted in Your everlasting word.

Use us in this time and this place that even the least of our accomplishments would find worth in Your design. Guide us in these days that the most inconsequential elements of our work would have value in Your eyes.

In each fleeting moment, confront us with the opportunity to acknowledge that You are present, here, now, and in every minute of our lives. And may we serve to glorify You this day.

In Your presence we stand, and in Your name we pray. Amen.

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Lord of our lives, hear our prayers. Fill us with Your spirit so that we may please You.

As we seek Your divine approval, empower our lawmakers to do Your will. Lord, help them not to have an excessive focus on the temporary things while neglecting the eternal. May our Senators live lives that bring glory and honor to Your Name, receiving Your approbation for their faithfulness. Create in them humble and contrite hearts that will refuse to deviate from the path of integrity.

And, Lord, we continue to pray for Ukraine.

We pray in Your merciful and powerful Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, our redeemer, we look to You, “the rock from which Your people have been cut, the quarry from which we have been hewn.” You are our foundation, the source of our lives, and the inspiration of our breath.

Lord, 5 months have passed since your people in Ukraine have been besieged by the enemy of your desire for creation. Deliver Ukraine from the hands of tyranny. Speedily may Your righteousness draw near. With Your strong arm, bring justice to the nations. Grant salvation to those whose faithfulness has remained steadfast in the face of extreme hardship.

Respond to their abiding hope, with the comfort You surely offer. Look with compassion on her ruins, make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands Your own garden. Free the bounty of her fields from the devastation of despotism. Allow the produce of her rich land to provide for those across the globe who desperately depend on the yield of her harvest.

Then may joy and gladness be once again found in Ukraine’s cities. May the songs of thanksgiving rise up from the hearts of her people.

In the saving power of Your name we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Holy God, all Your works do praise Your name on the earth, in the sky, and on the sea. Great is Your faithfulness.

Stir Your edifying spirit among our senators, liberating them from shortsightedness as they work diligently for freedom and justice for all. Lord, make our senators citizens of Your kingdom, so that Your will may be done on earth, even as it is done in heaven. Help them to draw near to You with true hearts and full assurance that their times are in Your hands. May this confidence in Your prevailing providence inspire them to pay the price of eternal vigilance for freedom.

We pray in Your sovereign name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy and gracious God, thank You for the countless times You demonstrate the intimacy of Your love for us–through the affection of a loved one, a desire met, serendipitous moments that grace our days with evidence of Your hand in our lives.

How easy it is to believe, having seen Your power at work, Your creative activity in the living of our days, in the healing of those we love and care for. We are truly blessed.

Lord, we believe. Help our unbelief.

We ask Your blessing when we can’t see, when the hurts, the evil, and the confusion of the world obscure any evidence of Your concern for us and deny Your willingness or ability to bring order to our chaos.

In this confusion, may we find certainty that transcends doubt. In our fear, may we find faith that sees beyond our hopelessness. And as we wait upon You, may we trust in Your sovereign power by which all things are possible for those who, even without seeing, believe.

In the inimitable power of Your name, we pray. Amen.

Monday, July 25, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Almighty God, the judge of our desires and faults, You have withheld nothing we need. Today, continue to meet the needs of our lawmakers. Give them so much more than they expect that they will rejoice because of Your goodness. May their rejoicing and gratitude empower them to face the challenges and seize the opportunities of these turbulent times. Provide them with faith, courage, and good will to make the world a better place. Lord, use our Senators as Your servants to bring healing to our Nation and world.

We pray in Your powerful Name. Amen.

Friday, July 22, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Compassionate God, as we approach You at the end of our workweek, tried and tested by the many concerns that have crossed our paths, we lay our burdens before You, that You would make good of them in Your perfect plan.

We cast on You all our anxiety over what we have done, what we have left undone, and what remains to be done, because in the midst of all that we struggle with and tend to each day, we dare to believe You care for us.

By Your steadfast love then, give us reason to hope that You will sustain us. By Your righteousness, give us certainty that all we have done in faith will serve to contribute to Your will for this place and for our Nation. By Your abiding presence, relieve our worry for tomorrow, for all our days are in Your hand.

Upheld by Your everlasting arms, and in the strength of Your name, we pray. Amen.

Thursday, July 21, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Almighty God, we would rest in You, for You alone can bring order to our world.

Reveal Yourself to our Senators, guiding them on the path of peace. May they place behind them disappointed hopes as they lean on You for comfort and strength. Lord, replace their doubts with faith. Strengthen the good in them so that nothing may hinder the outflow of Your power in their lives. Give might to the weak, and renew the strength of the strong.

Lord, we thank You for Your great power as we praise You in Your mighty Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Lord, You are the author of our lives, the perfecter of our faith. In You, we see what we are called to do and what You want us to be. For You have shown us love when we have been anything but lovable and mercy though we are not worthy. You have demonstrated compassion in our darkest moments and steadfastness when all around us falls apart.

To Your image may we be faithful.

Cause us to follow Your lead as You raise us up as leaders of our community and of this Nation. In everything we do or say, may we live up to the example You have called us to be by upholding what is good in Your eyes.

In our conduct in this place, in our love for one another, and in our faith in the face of adversity, and in our purity of thought and purpose, may we serve as bearers of the truth found only in You.

In the name of the one who is truth, we pray. Amen.

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal Redeemer, answer us in seasons of trouble. Send us Your help from Your sacred hills. Our souls long for You, for we find strength and joy in Your presence. Lord, increase our faith, and teach us to trust You even during life’s storms.

When our Senators endure dark nights of the soul, enable them to find strength in Your presence. May they claim Your promise that You will never leave or forsake them and that nothing can separate them from Your love. Help them seek in every undertaking to know and do Your will.

We pray in Your sovereign Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires are known, and no secrets are hidden, we lay before You the concerns of our hearts for peace in this world and the desires we have that Ukraine would be liberated from the oppression they now endure.

Nothing in all of creation is concealed from Your sight. We ask, then, that You expose tyranny and reveal its true motive of power and self-promotion.

Uncover the traitors to freedom and the enemies of sovereignty and convict them of their deceit. Unmask those who scheme for their own interest at the expense of their own country and have them answer for their transgressions.

May all who fail to contribute to the common good, all those who thwart the ideals of freedom and democracy in Ukraine, be laid bare before You and may Your judgment be swift.

Call us all to account for our deeds–things done and left undone, the overt and the contrived, the noble and the malicious. And align our lives, our Nations, and our world to Your perfect will for Your creation.

In Your omnipotence be merciful to us. In Your holy name we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, the sky clearly reveals Your glory. It sings melodies about what You have done.

Today, teach our senators to do things Your way, embracing Your precepts and walking in Your path. Remind them that the narrow and difficult road leads to life and true freedom. As You teach them to live with integrity, replace their anxiety with calm, their confusion with clarity and their doubts with certainty. May Your heavenly peace which transcends human understanding guard their hearts and minds today and all.

We pray in Your loving name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Loving God, You have called those who believe in You to live in community, to love and support those in need, and to encourage each other in the faith. God, at times these seem like such easy tasks. All we need do is look around us, and we see fellow human beings in great want for so many things. And yet, we are reluctant to act, not knowing where to start, whom to help first, or what the right help is for us to give.

Open our eyes to those who are hungry, who need clothes, who thirst for the water that will satisfy their deepest needs. May we be the hands that lead even the stranger to find shelter in Your care.

Likewise, call us to ask how we can be of encouragement to one another. How do we serve one another that together we would be steppingstones and not stumbling blocks to the peace You would have us enjoy?

Despite our differences, despite our disagreements, cause us to look into the eyes of the other and see Your image, so then may we be at peace.

God of love and peace, be with us this day. In Your holy name we pray. Amen.

Monday, July 18, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, look down from Heaven to see those who passionately seek Your presence. Listen to our prayers. Lord, our hearts are steadfast toward You, so lead our Senators safely to the refuge of Your choosing. Thank You for giving us a future and a hope.

Today, give our lawmakers the power to do Your will as they fully realize they are servants of Heaven and stewards of Your mysteries. Provide them the wisdom to make faith the litmus test by which they evaluate each action as they refuse to deviate from the path of integrity. Lord, keep them from being careless about their spiritual and moral growth.

We pray in Your strong Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, call us into Your presence this day, that we, with full abandon, would run into Your loving embrace and receive the plenteous gifts You desire to lavish upon us.

What an image. Your love is so welcoming. Your concern for our welfare so strong, and Your generosity overwhelming. We are humbled by Your grace.

Held in Your everlasting arms, may we find the courage to ask for Your wisdom and guidance, that we would receive; to seek to discern what is good and right, that we may find; and to knock on doors barricaded by doubt and despair, that even these would be opened to us.

O God, You are the source of our every hope, the answer for all we seek, and the treasure we hope to be opened to us. In this knowledge, may our joy be complete.

In Your loving name we pray. Amen.

Friday, July 15, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy, holy, holy Lord, fill the Earth with the knowledge of Your glory. As the waters cover the sea, the stars inhabit the celestial heavens, the birds fill the air with their song, the majesty of the animals roam the forest and plains, so may Your sovereign presence reign in our lives, in this place, and in our Nation.

Lift up our eyes to the hills that we may discover from whence our help does come. You who made Heaven and Earth, speak Your creative word into our discourse, Your compassion into our engagements with one another.

Lord, You are our keeper, You watch over us so that the harshness of the day will not overtake us, the dark of the night will not overwhelm us.

Keep us, then, from all harm. Guard our comings and goings within Your eternal grace plan that we may live to sing of Your praises and accomplish the work You set before us.

In Your merciful name we pray and by Your grace we live. Amen.

Thursday, July 14, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, we know that You exist. Every time we hear a baby cry or touch a leaf, we are reminded of Your presence in our world. Lord, continue to look with favor upon our Senators. Enable them to go from strength to strength as they strive to live in day-tight compartments. Guide them around the obstacles that hinder them from living for Your glory. As they strive to please You, empower them to stand for right and leave the consequences to You.

We pray in Your great Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

God, our guide, we yield our day, our plans, our wills to Your counsel. How much better is Your grace plan than anything we could create on our own? How much more valuable even than gold is Your wisdom? To have insight to Your understanding is better even than silver.

May our minds, our hearts, our ears be open to discern Your guidance today. You set before each of us trusted instruments of Your own divine counsel: staff directors and assistants, legal counselors, clerks and protocol experts, public affairs directors, all sorts of people who devote their time and talent to the success of this congressional process.

Speak clearly through them that we would hear. Stop us in our tracks if we head the wrong direction. Direct our steps that we would walk in Your will for our lives.

Remind us that our plans fail when we choose not to receive Your counsel. Give us the wisdom to heed the guidance You offer from all those whom You place in our path this day. Hear our prayers as we listen for Your voice.

Amen.

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal Spirit, grant to this nation and to all people a social conscience built on the vision of the ancient prophets who saw sufficiency for people at a time when anxiety would be overcome by goodwill.

Lord, hasten the day when the small and weak can make their contributions alongside the great and powerful. Lead us to the day when we will see peace among the nations of the earth, when swords shall be beaten into plowshares. Use the members of this body to do Your will. Let Your glory cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

We pray in Your great name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Almighty God, You bless the people who patiently endure hardship and testing. And so we bring before You our prayers for the people of Ukraine who, in these last months, have endured indescribable adversity and have been tested time and again. Yet, they have held fast to their faith in You and confident in Your deliverance from unspeakable horrors.

You see the atrocities inflicted upon Ukraine, O God. You know the torture the Ukrainians endure day after day at the ruthless hands of their enemy. They wait patiently for Your intercession. Where, then, is Your blessing?

O Lord, You have promised those who love You the crown of life. Give to the people of Ukraine, who have remained unwavering in their hope in You, who have embodied Your compassion in tending to the overwhelming suffering around them despite the risk to their own lives, give them evidence of the abundant life You have prepared for them.

Defend them with the strength of Your mighty arm. Crown them with righteousness, for in facing the wickedness that encroaches on them, they have remained steadfast in their devotion to You.

May they serve as a testimony to Your faithfulness and a witness to Your abiding presence. And may we prove worthy to endure the testing and hardship that befalls us when we are called to take our stand against tyranny and oppression.

All this we pray in Your sovereign name. Amen.

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

We acknowledge today, O Lord, Your power, mercy, and grace. We need Your power, for the challenges we face require more than human wisdom and strength. We need Your mercy, for we transgress Your law and fall short of Your glory. We need Your grace, for we cannot offer anything to merit Your favor or gain Your love.

Lord, empower our Senators for today’s journey. Give them confidence to draw near to You that they may find grace to help them in this time of need. May they pass their days in the companionship of Your eternal presence. Enable them to learn the stewardship of time, energy, and abundance. And Lord, we continue to pray for Ukraine.

We pray in Your sovereign Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, as we set our sights on the week ahead, we pray Your guidance and strength to accomplish the work and the responsibilities You have set before us.

Ready our minds for action. May we prove to be doers of Your compelling will. May our thoughts center not just on the concerns of our constituents, but may we open ourselves to the broader purpose to which You have called us, that we would commit all our efforts to the common good.

Give us self-discipline, that as timelines and schedules, committee meetings, and caucuses all vie for our time and attention, that we would be discerning in our endeavors to use our gifts, talents, and energy as You would have us do.

Sustain us by the hope You set before us. Open our eyes to the multitude of opportunities and possibilities You so richly provide.

Then may we never rest, satisfied in our own accomplishments or on human approbation, but may we find our purpose in Your divine plan and our identity grounded in the grace found only in You.

We offer to You our plans for the week ahead and pray with certitude that we are, indeed, undergirded by the power of Your sovereign name. Amen.

Monday, July 11, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Oh, Lord, as our lips are open in prayer, so may our hearts be open to receive Your Holy Spirit. Help us to bow to Your will and live lives devoted to Your providential leading.

Lord, bless our Senators in their work. Let faith, hope, and love abound in their lives. Help them to seek to heal the hurt in our world and to be forces for harmony and goodness. Remind them that they will be judged by their fruits and that You require them to be faithful. May they seek to serve rather than be served, following Your example of humility and sacrifice.

We pray in the Name of Him who is our refuge from life’s storms. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

O Lord, You are good and Your love is eternal. From generation to generation, You have revealed Your faithfulness.

As we pause to reflect on those who have gone before us, who have sat in this very Chamber, and spoken from the same rostrum, remind us again how Your provisions for us from year to year are never failing.

As the Nation finds itself at odds over countless issues, overwhelmed by constant change, and struggling to find consensus over numerous concerns, remind us again that discord is not new and unrest is not foreign to the American experiment. Then reassure us that Your faithfulness endures throughout time.

Cause us once again to remember that You call us to give You our whole heart, mind, and body, and to believe that our days past, present, and future are all in Your keeping. Then may we not be inclined to lean on our own understanding in these days or ever, but to trust only in You. For You, O Lord, are good, and Your love for us is eternal.

In Your merciful name, we pray. Amen.

Thursday, July 7, 2022

House of Representatives – Dr. Lee Corder

Lord, as we gather today, we pray for our Nation, for unity and peace. May we reflect on some of the painful lessons learned in times of suffering and strife.

Lord, convict us when we divide ourselves into tribes rather than seek to live as a united people and are surprised by our lack of unity.

Lord, correct our arrogance and teach us humility when we are tempted to assume that those with whom we disagree have nothing to offer us.

Gracious Father, forgive us when we tolerate or contribute to the language of destruction and hate and are shocked by acts of violence.

Instead, imprint upon all who serve here the transforming truth that “we love because He first loved us . . . therefore, since God so loved us, we also are to love one another.” For You tell us that apart from love, kindness, and mutual respect, we will accomplish little of lasting impact.

In the name of the Lord we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

House of Representatives – Reverend John Kellogg

O, God, the fountain of wisdom, whose will is good and gracious, and whose law is truth: We beseech You so to guide and bless our Representatives in Congress, that they may enact such laws as shall please You, to the glory of Your name and the welfare of this people.

Amen.

Friday, July 1, 2022

House of Representatives – Monsignor Stephen J. Rossetti

Good and gracious God, the footprints of the evil one are rising in this land; hatred, division, violence, killing of the innocent, desecration of holy sites, and more. But we know that Your power is supreme; that You are Lord.

Today, we commend each and every person in this place and in our Nation to Your loving care. We place our trust in Your providence and guidance. We know that You will lead us safely home. We thank You, and we trust in You. Amen.

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

House of Representatives – Reverend Rachel Landers Vaagenes

Dear God, may we be reminded today that our universe is made of love. I ask that this life-giving love be manifest today in the hearts and minds of these Representatives of the American people, both those who are gathered in this Chamber today, and those who are away.

To be a Representative of the people is a great gift. May these public servants be honorable stewards of the trust and responsibility that they have received. May they work together for the common good of our country. May they come to their work with generosity of spirit and creativity of mind.

Today and every day, may this body be a reflection of love and care and righteousness. May the work done today contribute to the building up of our Nation and all who reside here, and indeed may it bless our whole world.

Amen.

Friday, June 24, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Eternal God, You created the world and called it good–and it was good. As we acknowledge that our heritage is deeply rooted in the first human beings, we ask Your forgiveness. For like them, we have dared to challenge Your supreme authority in favor of our own will.

Like Cain who murdered Abel with his hands because his heart had turned from You, even today our wills are set on our position, our power, and our pride. We weaponize the things at our hands and fail to humble our hearts to accept Your peaceful design for community.

Turn our wills, O God, from evil. Speak into our souls and save us from ourselves. For from the beginning of time we have been the obstacles to peace and justice. From the smallest infraction against a colleague to the vengeance we call down on our enemies, we have been and remain responsible for the roadblocks to reconciliation.

God, grant us Your wisdom to live the righteous life You intended for our first ancestors. May Your divine insight make our hearts pure, peace-loving, considerate, full of mercy, impartial, and sincere.

Then may our deeds henceforth be borne in the humanity that comes from Your eternal and gracious plan.

In Your merciful name we pray, and by Your grace we live. Amen.

Thursday, June 23, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Mighty God, the source of all life and the light of all seeing, lift our thoughts to the greatness of Your majesty. May we strive to do right by trusting You completely.

Lord, judge our thoughts and desires leading us with Your love and faithfulness. Today, teach our lawmakers to love in the presence of hate, to forgive in the presence of injustice, and to illuminate in the presence of darkness.

Lord, may the promise of Your love be experienced in all of their relationships. Be for us all a helper and a shelter in the time of storm.

We pray in Your righteous name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Almighty God, give us eyes of faith. Like little ones who live with open hearts, open minds, and open hands, remind us that, as Your children, You welcome us into Your arms and hear our prayers.

Restore to us if not the innocence of the young––for we have seen, heard, and experienced too much to be that naïve––then grant us the ability to trust You and the people and purpose You put before us. Dispel our cynicism and hurt and open our hearts to Your movement in our lives.

Enable us to be respectful of differences of opinion. Relieve us of our need to dismiss people who disagree with us with labels and stereotypes, and open our minds to find not only our shared passions but the value of diversity in the health of our society.

Then encourage us to reach out in ways that will bolster up the other. For woe to the one who is alone and has no one to lift him up. Woe, too, to the one whose helping hands are bound by fear and contempt. Open our hands that we would be a strength and encouragement to those around us.

We give You thanks for the blessings You bestow on each of Your children. And we pray Your blessing that through what we seek to accomplish today, all would feel Your loving embrace.

In the name of the one who gives us life that we may live it abundantly, we pray. Amen.

Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, shepherd of our nation and world, hear our prayer.

Lord, we turn to You because You are an intervening god who has asked us to pray without ceasing. We sometimes have difficulty comprehending the effectiveness of prayer, but we trust Your precepts and honor Your commands.

Lord, empower our lawmakers as You use them for Your glory. May they strive to keep themselves pure and to turn away from sin, as You show them Your ways and teach them Your wisdom.

Give them the wisdom to meditate upon Your mighty acts in the history of our nation and world. Lord, encourage them to trust You with their future.

We pray in Your sovereign name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Lord, our God, we exalt and praise Your name. For You, in Your perfect faithfulness, have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.

Reveal Your steadfast love to those who are being ravaged by senseless warfare––the Ukrainians whose cities are a heap of rubble, whose towns are now ruined––but not because of Your vengeance. The breath of the ruthless has been like a storm driving against a wall, like the heat of the desert.

Holy God, silence the uproar. Give relief from the intensity of this battle. Still the song of the avenger.

Once again, prove Yourself the refuge for the poor in spirit, a refuge for the needy in distress. Provide the people of Ukraine shelter from the storm of war waged against them. Give them shade from the oppressor’s heat of wrath.

Then, sovereign Lord, wipe away the tears from all faces, remove the disgrace of Your people. May they rise to proclaim: “Surely, this is our God. We trusted in Him, and God saved us. This is the Lord. We trusted in God; let us rejoice and be glad in God’s salvation.”

So may it be, according to Your Word, we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Our Father, we wait in reverence before Your throne. Cleanse us from our sins, creating in us clean hearts, while renewing a right spirit within us.

Help our lawmakers today to discern Your voice and do Your will. Give them the ability to know Your guidance from all others’, permitting You to lead them to Your desired destination.

Lord, speak to them through Your holy Word, guide them with Your spirit, and sustain them with Your might. May they strive to permit justice and righteousness to flourish in this generation and beyond. Use them to rescue those who suffer because of violence and oppression.

We pray in Your great Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, You see us as we are – our strengths, our weaknesses, our accomplishments, and our shortcomings – and still You love us with a parent’s heart.

God, we give You thanks for the patience You show us time and again. Despite our inclination to take things into our own hands, to fool ourselves to think that our way is the only way, to turn from Your guidance and walk away from Your loving arms, nonetheless, You stand beside, behind, and before us, ready to right us when we stumble and to reassure us when we fail.

Like a hen that broods over her nest, You gather us under Your wings and tend to our every need. Open our eyes to Your gracious care over us. Call us to seek shelter in Your encouraging embrace and to trust Your steadying hand.

We ask that You give us this day reminders of Your abiding faithfulness and enduring mercy. As we stand in the light of Your grace, may we see both our guilt and our acquittal.

Then may we find restoration and renewal to serve You as those who have been given a new chance to bask in Your love and proclaim Your compassion for all people.

In Your merciful name we pray. Amen.

Friday, June 17, 2022

House of Representatives – Reverend Stephanie Vader

God of all creation, who cannot be contained by our boundaries or our definitions, You are present in every place, in every moment in history. You are here and now.

Restore us anew to the vision of our forebearers who committed themselves to a vision of one Nation under God, with liberty and justice for all. We confess in this sacred Chamber of decision making that we have not realized that vision.

This weekend as we remember and honor those who father us and celebrate Juneteenth, the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of enslavement in the United States, we think of our ancestors.

Where our ancestors failed to work for liberty and justice for all and contributed to oppression and harm, we lament.

Where our ancestors struggled to work for liberty and justice for all, we give thanks.

Restore anew the vision of liberty and justice for all in us. Help us to contend fearlessly against evil and to make no peace with oppression. To love only that which is good. To learn to be gentle. By our actions to lessen the tides of sorrow. To add to the sum of human flourishing. Amen.

Thursday, June 16, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

O God, our refuge and strength, give us reverence for Your greatness. Guide our Senators around the pitfalls of their work, enabling them to have hearts sustained by Your peace. May they surrender their will to You, as they trust You to direct their steps. Lord, give them the wisdom to receive Your reproof with the understanding that You chastise those whom You love for their good. Make their lives productive for the glory of Your Name. And, Lord, bless Ukraine. We pray in the Name of our redeemer. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Eternal God, bless us with Your abundance this day. All that we seek may we receive. Then may we see that You alone have provided for us.

We dedicate the work of our hands and our minds to Your purpose. Allow us all that we need, for in You we have the plenitude of Your abundant grace.

When we are uncertain that we have enough time, energy, or information to carry out our responsibilities to our country, our communities, or our families, remind us that You are able to bless us beyond our limited human vision, and provide for us when we fall short.

Remind us also that more than just the work that we do or the daily lives that we lead, You offer to us the wealth of spiritual prosperity available in You. May we draw from Your spirit the resources we need to face the profound challenges and meet the profane contests that seek to undermine our integrity and rob us of hope.

In all things, O God, may we call upon You and the mercy You desire to lavish upon us. In this may we find life and have it more abundantly.

In Your generous name we pray. Amen.

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, every good and perfect gift comes from You alone. For with You there is no variation or shadow of turning. May we place our hope in You and never forget how You have sustained us in the past. Lord, give our senators the wisdom to trust You in the small things, realizing that faithfulness with the least prepares them for fidelity with the much. May they trust You to do what is best for our nation and world during these challenging and turbulent times. And, Lord, bless Ukraine. We pray in Your matchless name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Sovereign God, we pray to You again on behalf of the Ukrainian people. They continue to call to You, O Lord, in their distress. They call to You, our God. Hear their voices.

Relieve them of the hardship of their oppression.

Free them from the abuse of their captors.

Loose them from the chains of their enemy and give them the freedom of their own sovereignty and the blessing of peace in their homeland.

Then gracious God, allow us, we who are observers to this travesty, to be inspired by the faith of the Ukrainians in the face of their adversity. Open our eyes to the spiritual warfare being waged which has called forth their unshakable faith in You. They are living proof of the victory they have already won in You.

For they are hard–pressed on every side, but not crushed. They are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Almighty God, may we receive their testimony of Your saving grace. Then may we be found as steadfast in the living of our days.

In Your merciful name we pray. Amen.

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, help us to so live that the generations to come will know of Your mighty acts. Today, give our lawmakers the singularity of heart to seek, find, and follow Your will so that their legacy will be exemplary. Lord, guide them in the path You have created, inspiring them with the potency of Your powerful presence. May they trust You in times of adversity and prosperity, knowing that they will reap a productive harvest if they persevere. Keep them from underestimating the power of Your great name. We pray in the name of our redeemer. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Eternal God, on this Flag Day, when we pause to acknowledge the symbol of liberty and democracy to which we pledge our allegiance, remind us of the significance of Your authority over this land of the free and the brave and the faithfulness to which we are called to give to You.

In this season when we celebrate with cookouts and patriotic festivities, when we stand and salute the national ensign held with great honor in the hands of scouts and veterans, may we pause first in homage to the author of our freedoms in whose hands our lives are held.

And as we consider the multitude of times this emblem of our country has draped the caskets of men and women who have worn the cloth of our Nation, having sacrificed their comforts, their security, their very lives in its defense, may we find strength in the covering of the peace You keep over our land and the solace You provide all those who grieve.

Almighty God, long may our flag wave under the banner of love You hold over us.

In Your sovereign name we pray.  Amen.

Monday, June 13, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, dressed in a robe of light, this is the day that You have made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Lord, we place our trust in You. You have guided our life’s journey through many dangers, toils, and snares. Your amazing grace continues to sustain us. Today, show our lawmakers the right path. Lead them by Your truth and save them with Your matchless love. You continue to be the God of our salvation, and without Your mercies, we would be consumed. And Lord, we thank you for our incoming summer pages and as always, we ask you to bless Ukraine. We pray in Your merciful name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

You, O Lord, ruler of the universe, we call on You today. Make us aware of Your presence here in this place.

Gracious God, not a breath is taken, not a bird falls from the sky, without Your knowledge. Such knowledge is too wonderful to conceive and at other times a confounding mystery.

Lord, we believe. Help our unbelief. Remind us of Your abiding love which, by the gift of Your eternal spirit, You have never withheld from us from the beginning of time even unto today.

How wonderful it is to trust in Your sovereignty. How wonderful but how terrible when we come face to face with the tragedies we simply cannot accept, nor in which can we see Your merciful hand at work.

Remind us again that You deigned to set the world in motion, then blessed us with the opportunity to participate in Your grace plan for creation. And with that blessing, which is truly beyond our imagining, You have also laid on us the mantle to uphold and protect the values You have imbued in us.

In our attempts to live into these responsibilities as they reveal themselves in each encounter, may we feel Your nearness to us, and the guidance and direction You provide.

We offer ourselves to You, responding with lives of faith and praying to serve You this day as a reflection of Your peaceful presence and unwavering love in our midst.

In Your sovereign name we pray.  Amen.

Thursday, June 9, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, You stretch out the starry curtain of the Heavens. May Your Name be kept holy. As our lawmakers depend on Your guidance, keep their feet on the path You have chosen. Lord, inspire them to make a commitment to always do what is right as You give them the wisdom to discern it. Open Your hands to bless their work, supplying their needs out of the bounty of Your celestial riches. Mighty God, may Your glory continue forever. Lord, thank You for the commitment and competence of the great spring 2022 Senate page class. Bless them as they prepare to leave us tomorrow. We pray in Your loving Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, we humble ourselves and pray to You, yielding our wills to Yours, and giving ourselves over to Your authority. We pray that You would be merciful in Your discipline.

Search our hearts and melt all hardness that You find therein. Liberate us from the bonds of hostility that prevent us from living lives of love and compassion.

Inspire us also to humble ourselves and to unite in prayer as a nation. Search the soul of our society and speak into the pain and suffering. Hold us accountable to the countless ways we are inclined to stray from Your will.

Then silence the voices within and among us which vie for power and strive to eliminate cooperation. Remind us of Your desire for mutual and respectful dialogue and of our responsibility to respect those with whom You have called us to serve.

Call us not to listen for our own counsel but to heed Your own. Call us out when we hasten to judge the differences of opinion, rather than work for the common good. And call us from our intransigence into Your transcendent presence that we would experience Your grace and be transformed by Your spirit.

May we serve the people––Your people––with kindness and wisdom this day.

In Your divine name we pray. Amen.

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal God, robed with honor and majesty, we praise You for the marvelous things You have done throughout our Nation’s history. Lord, thoughts about Your mighty deeds continue to fill us with joy. You are Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. Lord, in these tumultuous times, we continue to trust You to compel evil forces to retreat. Surround this Nation with the shield of Your divine favor as You execute judgment from Your throne. Lord, continue to remind our lawmakers of their accountability to You. And Lord, bless Ukraine. We pray in the Name of our Savior. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

God of peace and author of our salvation, we pause in prayer to You for the ongoing conflict overwhelming the country of Ukraine and terrorizing its people. After over 100 days of fighting, O Lord, the people cry to You for deliverance.

We pray to You on their behalf as their voices grow weak with exhaustion, their hope dim with each passing hour of unrelenting adversity.

God, You are their refuge and their strength. Do not delay Your salvation from them. You are their ever–present help in time of trouble. Do not deny them the strength of Your abiding spirit.

Though the Earth gives way to the aggression of their foe, give them reason not to fear. Though the seas are ensnared with the adversary’s worst intentions, send Your spirit to brood over these waters and disrupt their chaotic plans and bring the order of Your peace.

May Ukraine bear witness to Your promises. God, You are within her, she will not fall. God, You will help her at break of day. Lord Almighty, You are with them. You are their fortress.

We pray with Ukraine by the power of Your sovereign name. Amen.

Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Lord, You are our source of hope and salvation. So why should we be afraid? You have been our fortress when evil has seemed to be winning. So why should we tremble? Lord, keep us fearless even when surrounded by predatory evil. Even when there is violence within our Nation, give us confidence that Your purposes will prevail. Today, use our lawmakers as instruments of Your peace. Hear this prayer, mighty God, for Your faithfulness continues to sustain us. We pray in our Redeemer’s Name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Almighty God, hear our prayers as the country lies divided before You. And yet there is not one person in this room who doesn’t want to relieve our children of fear or to ensure the safety of the day–to–day lives of American citizens.

How then do we address faithfully the rash of tragedies that have plagued our communities and gripped the Nation with turmoil and terror, frustration, and fear?

Holy God, how do we respond appropriately to the devastation that has infiltrated our schools and our playgrounds, haunted nightclubs, and grocery stores, and taken over city streets and neighborhood graduation parties?

Lord, how do we discern the way to peaceful dialogue without our personal prejudices getting in the way?

And how do we avoid our inclination to be right but seek instead the wisdom of Your righteousness?

As we approach You, whether from the depths of our sadness or the heat of our anger, remind us that these days and every day belong to You. Though the discussions in which we engage ourselves seem fraught with discord, You alone have the power to bring order to our chaos.

Call us then to set our minds not on our own self–interests but to adopt a more faithful attitude that leads to life and peace––an attitude that comes only from Your holy spirit.

Inspire us to yield ourselves, our deliberations, and our lives to Your guidance that our Nation would be restored.

We pray in the power of Your name to serve You faithfully in all that we face this day.  Amen.

Monday, June 6, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Savior, lead us like a Shepherd. Lord, we experienced more mass shootings over the weekend leaving a carnage of dead and wounded. Forgive us when we do too little too late. Give us the prudence to anticipate the evil and choose the right priorities to prevent it. Lord, provide our lawmakers with the ability to discern and do what is right, even when it is difficult. Give them the courage to speak the truth regardless of the consequences. Help them to be productive in all their endeavors as they strive to walk along the paths of justice. And Lord, bless Ukraine. We pray in our Savior’s Name. Amen.

Friday, June 3, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

O Lord our God, You are our strength and our song. By Your mighty hand, You have brought us to this moment in time that our lives would sing Your praises.

As we begin the day, cause us to reflect on the countless times You have upheld us through chaos and calamity, those moments when we had nothing left in our own reserves but could only draw on Your strength to see us through. Then may those reminders of Your abiding presence remain with us during the events and challenges in store for us today. Would that we look to You and the encouragement, motivation, and inspiration You provide for us in both the obvious and the more subtle gifts of grace You offer.

May we see Your face in all things and thus be empowered to meet You in all the things we face.

We can do all things through the one who strengthens us. May this serve as our refrain this day.

In the power of Your name, we pray to serve You faithfully.  Amen.

Tuesday, May 31, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, we find ourselves at the end of this Memorial Day weekend having honored the heroes of our country. We lift our hearts in gratitude for those who chose to give their lives in the fight for right and freedom, the honor of this country, and the preservation of its noble ideals.

We pray for those families, friends, and communities who sent their loved ones off to war and who now touch a gravestone just to sustain the memory of their sacrifice.

But as the first funerals are held today following the tragedy in Texas, we also grieve the innocents who didn’t live long enough to have a choice as to how they would give their lives.

Lord God our Father, we raise our voices of grief and mourning in memory of the ones who were lost on Uvalde’s battlefield, the 19 children and their two teachers. We cry with the families who sent their children off to school but who now drape themselves over tiny caskets, yearning just to hold them one last time.

Our country’s eyes are dim with grief, and we call out to You, spreading before You our deepest sadness. Our Nation’s prayers are offered before You in the hope that You would turn Your ear to our cries for those whom we have loved and lost.

O Lord, You are the God who saves. Show Your compassion to us in these moments. Declare Your love to us in the midst of our grief.

In Your sovereign name we pray Your favor. Amen.

Friday, May 27, 2022

House of Representatives – Reverend Russell Gordon

God of creation, we praise You for the sheer beauty of this world, for its astonishing diversity among plants and animals and peoples who together call this place home. We pray for Your gracious providence to encourage us in being responsible caretakers of all that You have made, to respect the delicate nature of the Earth, and to preserve this wondrous world for our children and grandchildren to enjoy.

We most especially pray this day for those families who have recently lost their children and loved ones due to gun violence. Bring them a good measure of Your comfort and Your peace.

As we begin this Memorial weekend, help us, O God, to do so humbly, grateful for the utmost sacrifice made by those in uniform in all fields of conflict, lives given so we may enjoy the fruits of life and liberty. We pray for those families who still feel their loss. May their supreme offering inspire this Nation and its leaders to strive for those ways that lead to greater unity, justice, freedom, and peace. Amen.

Thursday, May 26, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

O God our Father, we wait to serve You as You desire. May we do what is right and trust You completely. Lord, make us alert to the needs of those lives You seek to touch, providing us with opportunities to transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Examine and test us. Judge our desires and thoughts. Today use our lawmakers to bring relief to captives and deliverance to the oppressed. Give our senators such faith that they will bless even those who are hard of heart. May our legislators courageously work to lift those who are brought low by sorrow and empower those who are buffeted by grief. We pray in your precious name. Amen.

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

Eternal redeemer, the Father of mercies, You are our help in time of need. Lord, as we mourn the senseless tragedy at Robb Elementary School in Texas, guide us with Your grace. Lord, sometimes prayers seem so useless, yet in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, You told us to pray without ceasing. We lift our voices again to You. We pray because You have helped us in the past. We pray because You are our hope for the years to come. Strengthen us to pray and work until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. You inspire our lawmakers to strive to become islands of mercy in the midst of a sea of indifference. Lord, use our senators to build a more safe nation and world. We pray in Your merciful name. Amen.

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Senate – Chaplain Barry C. Black

O Lord who serves the mind of all called to serve You and country, guide our lawmakers to fulfill Your purposes. When it is difficult to see the path ahead, give them the wisdom to trust the unfolding of Your powerful providence. Empower them to resist the sins that bring dishonor as they seek to live for Your glory. Lord, unite them to bear the burdens which are laid upon them during these challenging days. As they remember their accountability to You, inspire them to be good stewards of Your bounty. And, Lord, bless Ukraine. We pray in Your great name. Amen.

House of Representatives – Reverend Gary Studniewski

Almighty God, from this, the people’s House, we give You thanks for the many blessings that You have bestowed throughout our Nation’s history. You have raised up generations of citizens who have enjoyed the freedoms upon which this country was established, the first of which is the freedom to worship You and to beseech Your favor upon our Union.

Lord, we ask You now to bless the Members of this House of Representatives and all who support its proceedings. Give them the wisdom to make decisions that would strengthen and prosper our Nation, make laws that are just, and serve with integrity and selflessness.

We continue to rely on Your good favors, dear Lord, as we pledge our devotion and our service.  Amen.

Friday, May 20, 2022

House of Representatives – Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben

Holy God, You have allowed to fall upon us both blessings and obstacles, that we would never take for granted the precious gift of our existence and the fragility of our life.

When we experience moments of Your favor, may we rejoice in Your will, and in times of displeasure, may we take seriously Your desire that we turn and return to You with all our hearts and souls. Whether we find ourselves banished to unknown frontiers or struggling at the periphery of our community, You, O Lord, will gather us in and bring us back to Your loving embrace.

May we ever obey Your guidance and give heed to Your direction, that we would know of Your delight when we choose to love the Lord our God and walk in obedience to You.

Today may we choose the ultimate over the urgent, the significant over the trivial, the substantive over the spectacle, and the eternal over the temporal.

In Your sovereign name we pray.  Amen.

(Prayers from the Senate and the House of Representatives. Photo Credit: Canva)

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