David is a marketing and communications professional in Chicago, IL
Writing Projects of David MacKay
At the beginning of 2016 I was finding that all of the common religious practices surrounding evangelical Christianity weren’t maintaining much of a hold on my attention. Though my faith is firm in the incarnational faith of Christ, my will to spend time in the Bible was like tepid coffee. I knew it would perk me up, but it was not appealing to approach. I decided that I didn’t like devotions — at least not the kind that everyone says you are supposed to do (quiet time). And so, since I didn’t like devotions so much, I started writing my own. It was my way of getting into the Word, and wrestling over the ideas presented in Scripture. I like devotions a little more now, but I do them weird. I think about things that aren’t the clear answers that everyone is convinced are there. I deconstruct preexisting ideas, and try to read the Bible with a hermeneutic of union with Christ. The words presented are in process. I long for discussion and understanding.
The Presidential Prayer Team is an organization that seeks to mobilize believers to pray for their elected leaders in the United States. Since 2017, I’ve been a member of the newsroom and the monthly journal writers collective. Every work day I research and write news articles summing up the day’s news and listing prayer points that stem from the things taking place in government. Additionally, every quarter the PPT creates a prayer journal where devotional thoughts are paired with information on different members in government.
As a member of the Painted Door Liturgists I have the opportunity to create poetic call and response writings for use within a church service. These writings are created in order to spark the thoughts and emotions of the congregants and remind them that they are a part of something more—something bigger than themselves.