Longtime Senate chaplain Barry Black delivered a stern prayer Monday, telling the Senate there are “no gold medals” for extending the federal government shutdown.
“When our children and grandchildren want to know what we were doing in the 119th Congress during the famous shutdown, may we not have to give these answers: I helped set a new record for keeping the government closed,” the Rev. Black prayed, adding:
“I failed to appeal to the better angels of my nature. I forgot Matthew 7:12, which states, ‘Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and prophets.’”
The current shutdown, which began on Oct. 1, is the second-longest federal government shutdown ever.
Black, who has served as the Senate’s chaplain since 2003 and who will turn 77 on Saturday, is a Seventh-day Adventist and previously served as chief of chaplains of the U.S. Navy.
He continued, “Lord, remind our lawmakers that no gold medals are given for breaking shutdown records, but a crown of righteousness is given to those who take care of the lost, last, and least.”
This is not the first time that Black has exhorted lawmakers to end a shutdown. During a 2013 shutdown, he prayed for God: “Deliver us from the hypocrisy of attempting to sound reasonable while being unreasonable.”
