pastorstratman

Reconcile Us

O God,
by your great love for us
you have reconciled earth to heaven
through your only Son:
grant that we
who are turned aside from love for each other
by the darkness of our sins
may be filled with your Spirit shed abroad in us,
and embrace our friends in you
and our enemies for your sake;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Source: Mozarabic Rite

Source of this version: Modified from Prayers of the Ages, ed. Caroline Snowden Whitmarsh, 1868, p. 256

Also found here: https://attentiontothemoment.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/the-mozarabic-sacramentary/

This prayer reflects on Colossians 1:20

In traditional English:

GOD, who of Thy great love to this world – didst reconcile earth to heaven through Thine Only-begotten Son; grant that we who, by the darkness of our sins, are turned aside from brotherly love, may by Thy light shed forth in our souls be filled with Thine own sweetness, and embrace our friends in Thee, and our enemies for Thy sake, in a bond of mutual affection.

The Historic Collects

This edition of the historic collects is based in small part on the translations of the historic collects in the older liturgy books (Book of Common Prayer 1928, The Lutheran Hymnal, Service Book and Hymnal), but does not rely entirely on the old versions. The prayers were checked against the original prayers in their (mostly) Latin sources which are available in Luther Reed’s The Lutheran Liturgy. Reed’s comments on each prayer were also noted.

This work combines all the prayers from The Lutheran Liturgy/Service Book and Hymnal and The Lutheran Hymnal, along with a few from Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary (1996). The newer translations and versions in Lutheran Book of Worship and Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal were also consulted.

The redundancies and other elements that were added in older English translations have been removed, along with a few of the redundancies inherent in the prayers. As with my previous projects, the goal is to focus on the meaning of the prayers and to make them useful and understandable to the modern reader.

Download here: THE HISTORIC COLLECTS

Also available through Academia.edu: https://www.academia.edu/28073230/The_Historic_Collects

Prayer for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

O almighty God, our Heavenly Father,
renew in us the gifts of your mercy,
increase our faith, strengthen our hope,
enlighten our understanding,
enlarge our love,
and make us ever ready to serve you,
both in body and soul;
through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord.
Amen.

Source: Freely modified from Mozarabic Collects, ed. Rev. Chas. R. Hale, New York, 1881, p. 34 #3 (Trinity 14)

“increase our faith, strengthen our hope, … enlarge our love” is a reference to 1 Corinthians 13:13

“both in body and soul” may be a reference to 1 Thessalonians 5:23

Prayer and Motto of St. Augustine

220px-sandro_botticelli_050 You are great, O Lord, and greatly to be praised.
Great is your power, and infinite is your wisdom.
You are worthy of our praise,
though we are but a speck in your creation.
We wear our mortality,
the witness of our sin,
the evidence that you resist the proud.
Yet you are worthy of our praise.
You awaken our hearts to delight in your praise.
You made us for yourself,
and our heart is restless until it rests in you.

Source: St. Augustine of Hippo, 354-430, Confessions, Book I, Chapter 1

Freely modified from http://biblehub.com/library/augustine/the_confessions_of_saint_augustine/chapter_i_great_art_thou.htm

Note: Many published prayers attributed to Augustine contain some form of the words “our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

You Raised Up the Fallen World

O God,
by the humiliation of your Son
you raised up the fallen world.
Give your faithful people constant gladness,
deliverance from the danger of eternal death,
and make us partakers of eternal joys;
through the same Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.

Source: Gelasian Sacramentary

A new translation of the Historic Collect for the Second Sunday after Easter

Translation of “Deus, qui in Filii tui humilitate…” by Paul C. Stratman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Please contact for any commercial usage.

Help Us Please You

Look on us and hear us,
O Lord our God;
and help us in our endeavors to please you
which you yourself have given us;
as you have given the first act of will,
so lead us to the completion of our work;
grant that we may be able to finish
what you have given us the desire to begin;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Source: Mozarabic Rite

Source of this version: Modified from http://www.holisticonline.com/Prayer/Spl_prayers/hol_prayer_for_completion-mozarabic.htm

Also found here: https://attentiontothemoment.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/the-mozarabic-sacramentary/

This prayer reflects on Philippians 1:6

Armenian Morning Prayer

O God, creator of light:
at the rising of your sun this morning,
let the greatest of all lights, your love,
rise like the sun within our hearts.

Source: Armenian Apostolic Church

Also found here: http://www.prayingeachday.org/100Prayers.pdf

A Prayer for Enlightenment

6069369723_ee697728eb_z_d O God, author of eternal light,
shed forth continual day upon us who watch for you,
that our lips may praise you,
our lives may bless you,
and our meditations in the morning glorify you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Source: Sarum Missal

Also found here: http://kenanderson.net/bible/html/may.html

Graphic: Page from an English Psalter, from Flickr, Walters Art Museum, Public Domain.

Preserve Us with Your Mercy

O Lord,
preserve your church with your perpetual mercy.
Without you, our mortal flesh can only fail.
Keep us and lead us away from all things hurtful,
and lead us to all things beneficial for our salvation;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.

Source: Gelasian Sacramentary

A new translation of the Historic Collect for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity.

Translation of “Custodi, Domine, quaesumus…” by Paul C. Stratman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Please contact for any commercial usage.

Prayer for Grace

6069369723_ee697728eb_z_d O Lord, our heavenly Father,
almighty and everlasting God,
who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day;
defend us in the same with thy mighty power;
and grant that this day we fall into no sin,
neither run into any kind of danger,
but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance,
to do always that is righteous in thy sight;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Source: Sarum Breviary

Source of this version: Book of Common Prayer (Unaltered).

Variant:

O Lord, our heavenly Father, almighty and everlasting God, you have brought us safely to this new day. Defend us with your mighty power, and grant that this day we neither fall into sin nor run into any kind of danger; and in all we do, direct us to what is right in your sight, through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord.

Graphic: Page from an English Psalter, from Flickr, Walters Art Museum, Public Domain.