Chaplain balances bipartisan alliances with trust in God’s will.
While elected officials from either party don’t agree on the outcome of the impeachment trial, they could agree on how to pray for the proceedings, according to Barry Black, a Seventh-day Adventist minister and the longtime chaplain of the US Senate.
So what do you pray after the US Senate votes to acquit Trump on two articles of impeachment, as it did on Wednesday afternoon?
You pray that God’s will be done.
“I think the prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane provides us with the model,” Black told CT. “The preamble to saying, ‘Let your will be done’ can be ‘Father, all things are possible for you. If it is possible, let the impeachment trial come out this way, nevertheless, not as I will but let your will be done.’ That’s the basic setup, but the dominant thematic focus should always be ‘Let your will be done.’”
The minister, with his signature bow tie and deep preacher’s cadence, says that in the middle of the polarization and partisan sniping, he has urged senators and staff on both sides to seek God’s will.
People have been listening closely to Black’s prayers as the Senate has battled over the historic impeachment vote. He draws powerful phrases from his daily devotions and hours of scriptural studies.
Before a full chamber of lawmakers, Black prayed the senators might be “bold as lions” one morning. Another, he pled for of “moral discernment to be used for your glory.” And one line last week caught a lot of attention: “They can’t ignore you and get away with it,” he said, “for we always reap what we sow.”
The Senate voted mostly along party lines to acquit the president, rejecting the …
Continue reading…