The 6th Cohort of Leadership Union are rallying students in a journey through the Lord’s Prayer as this year’s project, which is entitled “Celebrating Traditions of Prayer.” They are releasing weekly testimonials from Union faculty, staff and students and a weekly devotional based on a subject found within the Lord’s prayer. On May 4, at 12:00 p.m., they will be hosting a 24-hour prayer vigil leading up to a community-wide proclamation of the Lord’s Prayer on May 5.
The project website states that the proclamation will entail anyone wishing to participate to recite the Lord’s prayer wherever they are at that time as “a reminder that we are united in spirit and grounded in the truth of God’s word.”
“In one of our meetings, the cohort discussed how to best engage our students across campuses and online,” Kevin Morgan, member of the 6th Cohort of Leadership Union, said. “It was brought up that as much as we would love to believe that everyone on campus is a Christian, it’s simply not true. So, we wanted to choose a project that could benefit and bless both the believer and not yet believer of the Union University family.”
Although some students may not be believers or pray consistently, Renee Stamper, member of the 6th Cohort of Leadership Union, said the Lord’s Prayer is “something that generally most people know.”
“I think the Lord’s Prayer is a very strong foundation of prayer within the Bible,” Stamper said. “To me, it’s the go-to prayer. We say it a lot as a family. We say it a lot as a team. My kid’s baseball team, at the beginning or the end of practice, they come together and say the Lord’s Prayer because it’s standard, something that you can memorize.”
The weekly videos that accompany each devotional feature professors from various departments as well as students. Among the included professors were Nita Mehr, associate dean of social work; DiAnne Malone, associate dean for student and faculty services of MCUTS and Haelim Allen, associate professor of art. The videos reflect the Leadership Union’s goal to build community on campus between different departments through the topic of prayer.
Each member of Leadership Union headed individual responsibilities for the project. Stamper was chosen to organize a worship night, in which members of the men’s soccer team were to lead the Lord’s Prayer in the languages of their respective countries. Though the event was cancelled, it would have displayed the unification of different cultures through the Lord’s Prayer.
“It’s been a lot of fun to get to know colleagues in such a meaningful way. As you get settled in a job and try to turn that job into a career, sometimes it can be difficult to get out of your silo, so to speak, and engage with other people and departments,” Morgan said. “I’m thankful that Leadership Union offered me that blessing and I have grown in friendship and respect for the members of my cohort, the Leadership Union advisory team and everyone who has helped in making our project idea a tangible blessing for those in our community.”
However, another goal of the project is to inform students about the importance of prayer. More than just memorizing the Lord’s Prayer, the project is meant to analyze and reflect on it piece by piece.
“More specifically than being Christians or not, we also realized that professing believers of Union communities may not have been taught the basic foundations of prayer that we receive from Jesus in Matthew 6:9-13,” Morgan said. “The goal of our project is to impact our Union family with the necessity, simplicity and accessibility of prayer both as a spiritual discipline and as an instructional directive given from Jesus. The language in Matthew 6 says ‘when you pray…’ as Jesus proceeds to give instruction.”
“I feel, generally, that the Lord’s Prayer is a good coming around prayer for everybody to unite, being a believer or non-believer,” Stamper said. “Hopefully the non-believer would try to find Scripture to become a believer.”
Rebekah Holland, a senior elementary education major, signed up for multiple five-minute slots in the prayer chain. “I wanted to participate in this 24-hour prayer with Union because I think it helps bond us together as a community and remember what is ultimately important: God. Even across various skills and ages, the Union community is fueled by the desire to honor Christ in all our studies and all we do.”
There are still many five-minute time slots available for the 24 Hours of Prayer event. All students and faculty are invited to sign up for a time leading up to the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer.
The project website can be found here, and the sign-up page for a five-minute time slot can be found here.
