#ICYMI: Senate Chaplain Praises the 'Saints in Caesar's Household'
The Beltway is full of believers, but you wouldn't know it by watching the news outlets, Senate Chaplain Barry Black told the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast.
"There are saints in Caesar's household," Black said in his address, quoting . The number of weekly Bible studies attended by Senators, chiefs of staff and regular staffers along with Capitol Hill police, janitors and wait staff leaves him "encouraged by the robust spirituality of so many who work on Capitol Hill." He added that all those gatherings begin and end with prayer.
"To see Republican, Democrat, Independent, praying together, I find myself thinking, 'Where are the C-Span cameras when you need them?"
The Retired Navy Rear Admiral has served as the Senate Chaplain for 14 years. The keynote speaker of the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast said he got an "adrenaline rush" as he gathered with thousands of people from all 50 states and 140 countries seeking divine blessing on the United States.
"I feel the palpable presence of God in this place," he said.
Black's message to the audience was "Making Your Voices Heard In Heaven." He said too many people are focused on making their voices heard on earth, through protests and social media. But he said the real power comes when our voices are heard in heaven, which he says comes through prayer, citing , which says, "You have not because you ask not," and Mark 6 when Jesus said we receive God's blessings through prayer.
Black drew resounding applause after a story about growing up in segregated Baltimore, in the same neighborhood as Freddy Gray, whose 2015 death sparked race riots. He said the first time he ever shook the hand of a white person was when he was 16.
He told those attending the prayer breakfast how he came to Christ. He said his mother used to pay him to memorize scripture and he'd find the shortest verses to memorize. He said something happened as he memorized God's Word and he now knows his mother knew what she was doing. He said at age ten, began to understand the value of something is based on what someone is willing to pay for it. And when it dawned on him, "a little guy in the inner city" that God sent "his only begotten son to die for me...no one was ever able to make me feel inferior again."
