[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 203 (Friday, December 30, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H10535]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 PRAYER

  The Chaplain, the Reverend Margaret Grun Kibben, offered the 
following prayer:
  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.

                          ____________________