Church of England forced to defend World Cup ‘hand of God’ prayer
The Church of England has defended a World Cup prayer that was widely mocked online.
The church said it created the prayer as an attempt to “engage with people beyond” its regular followers after a cleric said the prayer was “widely mocked online.” Some comments online saw it branded “embarrassing”, while others questioned whether it was a parody.
The article, published on the first day of the tournament last month, called on people to “see and celebrate the hand of God” and referred to “missed penalties, confused VARs (video assistant referees)”.
Ahead of the Church’s parliament, known as the General Synod, which meets in York on Friday, members raised questions about how the prayer was composed and who signed it.
The Rev. Jeremy Moodey, representing the Diocese of Oxford, said in a written question to the Synod that the prayer had been “widely mocked online for its religious ignorance and the ominous reference to the ‘hand of God’.”
40 years ago, Diego Maradona scored the famous “Hand of God” goal to eliminate England en route to Argentina winning the 1986 World Cup.
The prayer called for a “harmonious and joyful World Cup” and added: “Let us see and celebrate God’s hand in every curling free kick, silky pass or impossible save.
“Let us have compassion and perspective on bad kicks, missed penalties, confused VARs – every winning team needs a losing team, even if you are the better team.”
Answering questions in his role as chairman of the liturgical commission, Bishop Michael Ipgrave of Lichfield said the prayers were “prepared by theologically trained staff and are subject to an internal review and signature process”.
He acknowledged there had been “some critical comments” on social media site
He said: “The communications team produces a wide range of content that supports the mission of the Church, including evangelism, discipleship and engagement with the wider public, with material tailored to different audiences and platforms.
“When prayers are written specifically for sharing on social media, they can often look and read differently than prayers and other texts that are officially permitted or recommended for use in public worship. They may take the opportunity to draw on styles and idioms that may be foreign to the official liturgy of the church.”
“Events of national significance provide opportunities to engage with people beyond the Church’s regular audience, which may include the use of a variety of tones and formats, including more accessible, informal or light-hearted language.
“Not all content will resonate equally with all audiences; for example, responses to the World Cup prayer varied across channels, there were some critical comments about X, but it was well received on other platforms that reach a wider audience, such as Facebook.”
