The Gospel of Nicodemus (a fourth century account of Jesus’ death and resurrection that didn’t make it into the official New Testament) contains this “prayer of the people”:
(16.8) And all the people sang praises to the Lord, and said:
Blessed is the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel,
according to all that He has spoken;
there has not fallen one word of every good word
of His that He spoke to Moses His servant.
May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers:
let Him not destroy us.
And let Him not destroy us, that we may incline our hearts to Him,
that we may walk in all His ways,
that we may keep His commandments and His judgments
which He commanded to our fathers.
And the Lord shall be for a king over all the earth in that day;
and there shall he one Lord, and His name one.
The Lord is our king: He shall save us.
There is none like You, O Lord.
Great are You, O Lord, and great is Your name.
By Your power heal us, O Lord, and we shall be healed:
save us, O Lord, and we shall be saved;
because we are Your lot and heritage.
And the Lord will not leave His people,
for His great name’s sake;
for the Lord has begun to make us into His people.”(16.9) And all, having sung praises, went away each man to his own house, glorifying God; for His is the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
There was a detail to this prayer that caught my eye, namely the very last line:
“for the Lord has begun to make us into His people.”
Phrases along the lines of “we ARE the people of God” are common in the Bible and liturgy, but here we have something like “He is MAKING US INTO the people of God.” One is a done deal, the other is a work in progress. This is yet another one of those paradoxes that characterizes so much of Spirituality: Christ’s work was certainly completed, and yet in another sense He is just beginning with each of us every day.