The following appeared on the Washington Post’s live-update blog:

Senate chaplain Barry Black, who has offered a series of stinging rebukes to Congress’s intransigence this week, might have outdone himself Wednesday morning. Here’s what he said, according to a transcript:

“Let us pray. O, God, in whose presence our souls take delight, to whom in affliction we call, forgive us for continuing to sow to the wind even when hearing the sounds of the approaching whirlwind. Lord, when our federal shutdown delays payments of death benefits to the families of children dying on far-away battlefields, it’s time for our lawmakers to say enough is enough. Cover our shame with the robe of your righteousness. Forgive us, reform us, and make us whole. We pray in your merciful name. Amen.”