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From Luke’s Journal May 2025 | Vol. 30 No. 1 | MIMBY

Those of us who know Dr Paul Mercer are always amazed at how much he can squeeze into a day and what he has achieved in life. Besides married life and a busy family, he has an extensive medical practice, is a medical educator, and has worked hard and long in health and community development projects. And there is much more to the story.

What may come as a surprise is that Paul is also a writer and it is a joy to recommend his recently published book the New Normal.

This book, born during the COVID-19 years, is a book of vibrant, relevant, and deeply spiritual communal prayers. And this is helpful and challenging because we are facing a crisis in the practice of prayer in our churches, and in Protestant and Evangelical circles we are used to personal prayer (if we still pray) and know little of communal liturgical prayer.

Paul’s book is not a book on how to pray. The book is not a call to prayer. It is a book of prayers that one can pray personally, but primarily in communal settings such as in the family, small groups, and in ministry organisations. I can imagine the board meeting of a Christian organisation using this book at the beginning of the meeting. I can see an elders’ or deacons’ meeting in church doing the same. Faculty meetings in a seminary and mission planning meetings would be blessed in praying these prayers. And of course, these communal prayers are ideal for use in church services.

What is particularly noteworthy is the following:

The prayers follow the liturgical calendar of the church – Advent, Epiphany, Easter, and so on to the long cycle of Ordinary Time.

The prayers are drawn from the whole panorama of Scripture but are expressed in contemporary language. And these prayers reflect the whole panorama of the Christian life. There is the language of praise, lament, gratitude, repentance, joy, surrender, longing, and hope, among many other themes. The prayers remind us of the nature of God, the power of redemption in Christ, the gifting and leading of the Spirit, our participation in the community of faith, the joy and struggles of the Christian life, and our passion to bless others and to see peace and justice flourish in our world.

“What is surprising is that these prayers reflect a joyous orthodoxy, a heartfelt orthopathy, and a committed orthopraxis.”

What is surprising is that these prayers reflect a joyous orthodoxy, a heartfelt orthopathy, and a committed orthopraxis. The prayers include the voices of the whole people of God, not just the church’s leaders, and the voices of children highlight that they too, belong to the faith community.

I am sure that part of Paul’s concern in writing these prayers has been to move prayer well and truly beyond our narrow wish lists into the wide domain of the love and purposes of God for our lives, the church, and the world.

My wife, Rita, and I, are using these prayers for our morning common prayer time. And this has made this time not so common but quite special. Thank you, Paul!

New Normal: Discerning the Rhythm of Lament, Thanks, and Praise in Bad Times and Good
by Paul Mercer
ISBN-13: ‎ 979-8385215553
Resource Publications (10 December 2024)

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