Prayer: God’s Story (Our Story)
At Metanoia, we value a range of creative expressions that explore Christian faith and spirituality. Theology student Jacqui offers a communal prayer that seeks to ground a praying community in the story of Israel as God’s people.
“The communal prayer and accompanying plan I have created are designed with Israel’s practices of storytelling and habit formation in mind. There is an incredible amount of detail in the Bible. Through writing this prayer, my intention was to summarise the vastness of the Christian story without losing the most important parts. By focusing on particular points of God’s story, a richer understanding will develop, and the foundations of belief will be reinforced.
Scholar A. J. Culp observes that each time the story of Israel is told in Scripture, it follows a largely unchanging pattern. The repetitive nature supports memorisation, allowing adults and children alike to recall the details with confidence. By having a deep recognition of their place in God’s story, Israel was empowered to live out the call to be a distinct nation that worshipped Yahweh from a posture of love. Exploring Ecclesiology authors Brad Harper and Paul Louis Metzger highlight the need for communal language in prayer, particularly when this is being done in a public setting. They say that when done well, prayer can “create community, drawing the congregation into the process through responsive prayer, unison prayer, and in prayer for one another.” The title of my prayer first states that this is God’s story, but in brackets claims it is our story too – right from the outset the communal nature is made clear for all to see. I have purposely used the words “us” and “we” (as opposed to “me” and “I”), to further emphasise the group context of Christian life. This is also in keeping with The Lord’s Prayer which famously starts “Our Father.”
This following is a liturgical prayer to be used by faith communities over a number of weeks with the hope of strengthening the collective identity as God’s people, empowering all to love God with every aspect of their being and moving them to faithfully participate in God’s mission here on earth.”
Jacqui Fisher is student at Carey Baptist College - Te Kāreti Iriiri o Carey.