Story, Value, and Becoming More Real
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Spirit & Scribe (Writers’ Prayer)

February 9, 2021

Michael Stalcup



 

 

Creator God, who spoke the world,

Who breathed Your life into our parts,

Who authored us — O Living Word,

Your name is written on our hearts.

 

You know us, Jesus — bore our sin

Whose depths we fear to comprehend;

You know us fully — all we’ve been,

And are, and will be in the end.

 

Come, Spirit! Scribe of all our days,

Come breathe into our souls anew,

That healed, inspired, our lives would praise

And all our words be filled with You.

 

 

Author’s note:

I write most of my poems for a general readership, but this one was different. I wrote it to use in a workshop I led called Spirit & Scribe. Each week, our group of twenty writers prayed it together to prepare our hearts to engage with God.

Writing this poem helped me experience the symbiotic relationship between community and art that Andrew Peterson writes about in his book Adorning the Dark. Writing to serve this particular community shaped my poem into the simple, communal prayer it needed to be — community nourishing art. Then, at the close of the workshop, I was surprised to hear several people share how meaningful the prayer had been for them — art nourishing community.

I share this prayer now hoping it will be a blessing to you as well.

 



Listen to Michael Stalcup reading Spirit & Scribe aloud here:

 



The featured image is courtesy of Lancia E. Smith and is used with her permission for Cultivating and The Cultivating Project.



 

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  1. Amy says:

    This is lovely, and I appreciate seeing the ways it was informed by and informed your community. I’m looking forward to returning to it, and using it as one of my own writing prayers. Thank you, Michael!

  2. Thank you, Amy. I hope the prayer is a blessing to you!

  3. Tresta Payne says:

    Imagining 20 writers gathering to pray this together gives me goosebumps. What a joy! Thank you for sharing it with us.

  4. Christie Stalcup says:

    So good, Michael!

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