We Have Voices: Praying together for peace, justice and change
The cover of the prayer anthology We have voices - Praying together for peace, justice and change available from Methodist Publishing.
Rev Dr Barbara Glasson.
PHOTO: Alex Baker Photography
WATCH Barbara’s message to the Open Table Network [2.5 mins]
WATCH Barbara’s Q&A with OTN Coordinator Kieran Bohan [60 mins]
Warren Hartley, co-founder of the first Open Table community in Liverpool.
PHOTO: Mark Loudon.
OTN Patron Revd Dr Barbara Glasson has edited a new book of prayers to empower church communities to focus more fully and publicly on matters of justice.
These original prayers commissioned specifically for public worship were contributed by a diverse range of people including two from a founding member of the first Open Table community.
Barbara Glasson is a Methodist Minister and tutor in pastoral theology at the Queen’s Foundation for Theological Education in Birmingham. In 2019 she was awarded the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Hubert Walter Award in recognition of her work in peace and reconciliation. She was President of the Methodist Conference in 2019/2020, and became a Patron of the Open Table Network in 2020. Barbara has travelled widely and written a number of books that reflect her commitment to social justice and peace, including The Exuberant Church: Listening to the Prophetic People of God, which reflects on the process of ‘coming out’ as both profoundly human and deeply of God, and those who experience this as prophetic voices who invite us into a new way of understanding mission and the Church.
In an article for the Methodist Church of Great Britain, Barbara said:
Church prayers can often sound like shopping lists of things for which we aspire but sense are beyond us… But faith is not about wishful thinking or handing over responsibility to God for the things we feel we cannot grasp. Prayer is about the transformational hope that the vision of God’s kingdom is not only a future goal but also a present possibility. Thankfully, prayer is both an individual and a collective imperative and we are not alone in our quest for a more just and peaceful world. Christians are called to be part of communities in which we can both voice our longings and be stirred up to be activists for change.
The book is the result of conversations about justice seeking with a wide range of people who faithfully long to see justice for all, from army chaplains to young people working in community projects, from as far away as South America and Myanmar to as close as the local foodbank.
Barbara explained that the book’s title is because
We are not powerless or helpless – but we need courage and fortitude to keep praying together for a more just and peaceful world.
The prayers are a powerful call to action on many challenging issues, organised into four sections: Lament, Solidarity, Courage and Sending. Barbara added:
They help us cry out against injustice; aid us in speaking for and with others; allow us to complain at God and confide in God and propel us to speak truth to power… The language is sometime forthright and angry, sometimes sorrowful and hopeful… It is a book to stir us up and move us on so that we no longer remain silent when people are suffering.
One of the contributors is Warren Hartley, co-founder of the first Open Table community in Liverpool, who contributed two prayers. The first is inspired by the most commonly repeated phrase in the whole Bible, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament:
Jesus, you so often greeted your disciples
with the words
‘Do not be afraid’.
With every fibre of my being, I long to hear
those words from you,
‘Do not be afraid’.
Truth be told, I am afraid... no, I’m not, I'm terrified!
There is so much war and hatred,
anger and violence,
it's really quite rational to be afraid.
You were no stranger to this and yet could still
eat with friends, weep with grief, and dance
with joy.
I pray for that peace which passes understanding
and eyes to see all that is indeed ‘very good’
in our harsh yet beautiful world.
May I learn to follow in your way
so that I too may speak the words of peace:
‘Do not be afraid.’
Amen.- We Have Voices page 8.
The second reflects Warren’s experience as an Open Table community leader:
Eternal One,
You are the God in whom we live and move
and have our being.
We give you thanks for the diversity of life
inherent in your creation
and within each and every last one of us,
wonderfully made in your image.
Today we particularly give you thanks
for your rainbow children:
lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual and more,
reflecting your love in their lives and relationships, Your love transcends our labels and divisions,
creating one multihued humanity from a stunning diversity.
May we always be ready to recognise you in every person we see before us.
We ask this in all your holy names. Amen.- We Have Voices page 80.
