State of the Union in song and prayer

OPINION:

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

On Thursday, comes an annual Washington tradition: the National Prayer Breakfast. It’s an event where men and women of the clergy, politicians and others break bread at the Washington Hilton.

An invitation-only occasion, this year’s won’t be Donald Trump’s first. He attended last year’s, made a faux pas — comparing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Celebrity Apprentice” ratings against his own — before going his own way.

What sort of stuck in my mind were the words of Senate Chaplain Barry Black, who, in short order, spoke of the “robust spirituality” of members and employees of Congress, who meet regularly in various klatches for prayer.

The chaplain’s theme was easily relatable: Make “your voice heard in heaven.”

While filmmaker Spike Lee might have subtitled it “Do the Right Thing,” one of the finest points the chaplain made was we’re in this thing called life together.

Did Chuck Schumer seal it with an amen? Does the Senate minority leader know that he, President Trump, Hillary Clinton and other American voters are vessels for God’s messages? That some Americans dream of “Happy Days,” and others actually pray for good times?

Have America’s leaders become followers? Are they so out of touch that they hop from hashtag to hashtag because that’s the millennial thing to do?

Dozens of congresswomen have said they will wear black Tuesday to Mr. Trump’s first State of the Union address, taking their cue from recent award shows.

At the Golden Globes the voices were attired in black. At Sunday’s Grammys, voices chose white roses, but not everyone got that memo and the attempt to show a united front for the victims of sexual harassment and abuse failed miserably.

Those red carpet choices could turn out to be a good thing, however, if the voices remember that women and girls aren’t the only victims of sexual harassment and abuse.

The voices should remember that boys and men are raped and abused, too, and that wearing a little black dress or fabulous gown to the upcoming Oscars won’t flip that script.

Prayer can.

Solely condemning, rejecting and resisting doesn’t get you where you want to go, as Mr. Schumer and the Democrats discovered with the tax cuts and the government shutdown.

Lending and lifting your voice toward robust spirituality can move people — just as choirs do on any given Sunday.

America has a lot going for itself, which is why people from other nations want to come here and call this their own.

For sure, the times they are a-changin’ rapidly, dear readers, and, as the spiritual song says, we need to lift every voice and sing.

• Deborah Simmons can be contacted at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.