O Thou, who are ever the same, grant us so to pass through the doming year with faithful hearts, that we may be able in all things to please Thy loving eyes.
Amen.
-Mozarabic-A.D. 700
Category Archives: Prayers
prayer for clocks and calendars
(watches and calendars may be placed on the table)
Lord, You who live outside of time,
and reside in the imperishable moment,
we ask Your blessing this New Years’s Day
upon Your gifts to us of time.
Bless our clocks and watches,
You who kindly direct us
to observe the passing of minutes and hours.
May they make us aware of the miracle
of each second of life we experience.
May these our ticking servants
help us not to miss that which is important,
while Your keep us from being clock watchers
and instead become time lovers.
Bless our calendars,
these ordered lists of days, weeks and months,
of holidays, holy days, fasts and feasts-
all our special days of remembering.
May these servants, our calendars,
once reserved for the royal few,
for magi and pyramid priests,
now grace our homes and our lives.
May they remind us of birthdays and other gift-days,
as they teach us the secret
that all life
is meant for celebration
and contemplation.
Bless, Lord this new year,
each of its 365 days and nights.
Bless us with new moons and full moons.
Bless us with happy seasons and a long life.
Grant to us, Lord,
the new year’s gift
of a year of love.
In Jesus,
Amen.
-Edward Hays, Prayers for the Domestic Church
my heart is hungry
Dear Lord, break to me this day the ‘bread of life.’
My heart is hungry.
Save us from thinking, even for a moment, that we can feed our souls on things.
Save us from the vain delusion that the piling up of wealth or comforts can satisfy.
Help us to remember that the real quest for happiness is within.
O grant us the radiance of Thy tranfroming Presence all this day.
Amen.
-Ralph Cushman, Pocket Prayer Book, 1941
for the hope of glory
Almighty God,
Father of all mercies,
we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks
for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us
and to all whom you have made.
We bless you for our creation,
preservation, and all the blessings of this life;
but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption
of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ;
for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies,
that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise,
not only with our lips, but in our lives,
by giving up our selves to your service,
and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit,
be honor and glory throughout all ages.
Amen.
-General Thanksgiving Prayer, Book of Common Prayer
draw me
“I am a bow in your hands, Lord.
Draw me, lest I rot.
Do not overdraw me, Lord. I shall break.
Overdraw me, Lord, and who cares if I break!”
-Nikos Kazantzakis
the space between
Jesus, you are the King of Glory and the King of Creation.
Teach us to recognize the ways of your kingdom that we might participate as faithful and devout residents in the space between a broken world and the coming kingdom of God.
Amen.
-Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals
table blessing on the eve of ash wednesday
Lord our God,
on this eve of Ash Wednesday,
we ask that You bless our celebration
of the feast of Mardi Gras.
Bless our table, our food and wine,
as well as all of us
who sit about this feast day table.
Come, Gracious Lord,
and join us at this feast
as we prepare to join Your Son, Jesus,
be prayerfully entering into
these forty days of Lent.
As the food and wine of this feast
give nourishment and strength
to our bodies and spirits,
so may we, during this coming season of Lent,
give strength and support to each other
and to all who accompany us
on this pilgrimage of prayer
from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday.
As this Lenten roadway causes us to reflect
upon the death of our Lord,
may we also remember His victory
in His resurrection from the dead.
May this dinner
on the eve of day of ashes
be a joyful foretaste
of the rebirth and new life that is the promise
of the feast of the Resurrection.
Together, for the final time before these forty days,
let us sing the ancient song of joyful victory: Alleluia!
Amen.
-Edward Hays, Prayers for the Domestic Church
deliver me
From the cowardice that dare not face new truth,
From the laziness that is contented with half truth,
From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,
Good Lord, deliver me.
– Kenyan Prayer, Oxford Book of Prayer
be our holy guest
Lord Jesus, be our Holy Guest
Our morning joy, our evening rest;
And with our daily bread impart
Thy love and peace to every heart.
Amen.
trinitarian breath prayer
Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth:
Set up your kingdom in our midst.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God:
Have mercy on me, a sinner.
Holy Spirit, breath of the living God:
Renew me and all the world.
-N.T. Wright
peacocks for pilgrims 