[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 51 (Tuesday, March 21, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H1299]
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:
  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.

                          ____________________