Senate chaplain calls for lawmakers to ‘move beyond thoughts and prayers’ after Nashville school shooting

Barry Black has long used his position to call the Senate into action

US Senate Chaplain Barry Black used his opening prayer to urge Congress to move beyond thoughts and prayers after the deadly shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville.

Mr Black’s opened the Senate on Tuesday after a shooter in Nashville opened fire at the Covenant School in Nashville and killed six people, including three nine-year-old children.

“When babies die at a church it is time for us to move beyond thoughts and prayer,” he said.

Mr Black also referenced the words of British statesman Edmund Burke when he said all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.

“Lord, deliver our senators from the paralysis of analysis that waits for the miraculous,” he said. “Use them to battle the demonic forces that seek to engulf us.”

Mr Black has frequently used his opening prayer in the Senate to move Congress to action. After the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut 10 years ago, he urged the Senate to act.

“May incomprehensible destruction of lives still framed by springtime remind us of the importance of not delaying in seizing our opportunities to do good,” he said. “Make our lawmakers willing to act promptly, remembering that time is fleeting and that they shall not pass this way again.”

In addition, during the 2013 government shutdown, he called on Congress to overcome its impasse.

“Have mercy upon us, oh, God, and save us from the madness,” he said. “We acknowledge our our transgressions, our shortcomings, smugness, selfishness and pride. Create in us clean hearts, oh, God, and renew a right spirit within us. Deliver us from the hypocrisy of attempting to sound reasonable while being unreasonable.”

Mr Black has held the position since 2003 and is a Seventh Day Adventist who previously served as chief of chaplains for the United States Navy.