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The Senate chaplain on Tuesday issued a prayer for lawmakers to “move beyond thoughts and prayers” after a shooting at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, killed three students and three staff members.
Chaplain Barry C. Black in his opening prayer on Tuesday told lawmakers, “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.»
“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,” Black added.
Black was referencing the phrase “thoughts and prayers,” a now-common response by officials and celebrities to mass shootings or other tragedies.
Black, a retired Navy rear admiral who has served as the Senate chaplain since 2003, does not typically make comments as direct as his Tuesday remarks.
