Proclamation is a way of saying what God has done and will be doing, and what it means to you and the community of which you are a part. It included three components.

1. It starts our personal, then moves toward being more inclusive of the larger community. It could be that your experience has an impact on the community or is an example of what God does for the community, or something else.

2. Proclamations start out in the present, but then move to declare what the future will be like.

3. Proclamation is God-centered. It is about God. You may start out talking about yourself and then move to your community, but it is the action and glory of God that you are proclaiming.

How do you go about creating your proclamation? First, read some that others have done. Mary does a proclamation in Luke 1:46-44. Her proclamation may be confusing in terms of the future component, because she sometimes uses the past tense to describe what will be done. Another proclamation, in Luke 1:67-79 is by Zechariah when his son John is born. There is a third in Luke 2:28-32 by Simeon as he saw Jesus at the temple eight days after his birth. As we get into this more, there may be others from our worship that may inspire you.

About that… inspire. I wouldn’t recommend that you imitate other proclamations but rather that they would inspire you. You may note that in scripture, the proclamations are done as people are “filled with the Holy Spirit”. That means that God touched them with his Spirit to guide their words. It’s an amazing thing when God touches a human being to inspire them to write using their own personality and gifts to proclaim in the way that God guides them. That’s what we desire – for God to inspire us to proclaim what he desires that we proclaim. We take our own experience of God and build on it as He guides to speak to the community and about the future for his glory. It is important to really highlight God. You express what He is like and proclaim what He has done. That’s vital to proclamation.

So, as you seek God to let him inspire you to proclaim Him, start by praying and asking God to guide you. You may consider things for which you are particularly grateful to God, your relationship with Him, how he has cared for you or guided you, and so on. Then consider what that means for others and into the future. There’s not really only one way to proclaim God’s greatness, is there? The heavens do it without words. So be creative and let God shine!