Dearest God, for food and rest
Accept our praise. Your name be blessed.
Amen.
Source: Unknown
Source of this version: Freely modified from Morning and Evening Prayers for All Days of the Week by Dr. John Habermann, Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago, 1918
Original:
Dearest God, for meat and drink
Accept our praise. Thy Name be blessed.
Amen.
(This prayer is not in the original German edition of Habermann’s Gebetbuch.)
Jesus, bless what you have given,
Feed our souls with bread from heaven;
Guide and lead us all the way,
In all that we may do and say.
Amen.
Source: Unknown
Source of this version: Freely modified from Morning and Evening Prayers for All Days of the Week by Dr. John Habermann, Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago, 1918
(This prayer is not in the original German edition of Habermann’s Gebetbuch.)
Heavenly Father, bless this food,
To your glory and our good.
Amen.
Source: Unknown
Source of this version: Freely modified from Morning and Evening Prayers for All Days of the Week by Dr. John Habermann, Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago, 1918
(This prayer is not in the original German edition of Habermann’s Gebetbuch.)
O God, be present with us always,
dwell within our hearts.
With your light and your Spirit
guide our souls, our thoughts, and all our actions,
that we may teach your Word,
that your healing power may be in us
and in your church universal. Amen
Source: Philip Melanchthon
Source of this version: http://www.thirdmill.org/files/english/html/worship/invok.html
![Prayers from the Evangelical-Lutheran Heritage by [Stratman, Paul]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51J%2B7A9TWnL.jpg)
Prayers by Philip Melanchthon are included in Prayers from the Evangelical-Lutheran Heritage, available from Amazon.com, and also available for Amazon Kindle. It is a collection of prayers from the history of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church from Luther to Loehe. The collection includes prayers by Johannes Bugenhagen, Georg C. Dieffenbach, Veit Dietrich, Matthias Flacius, Wilhelm Loehe, Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, Joachim Mynsinger, Johann G. Olearius, Johann Jacob Rambach, and the early agendas and prayer books of the Austrian, Brunswick, Hamburg, Lueneberg, Norwegian, Nuremberg, Pomeranian, Riga, Russian, Saxon, Schleswig-Holstein, and Swedish Evangelical-Lutheran churches.
Almighty God,
let the brightness of your glory shine on us,
and let the Light from Light by your Holy Spirit
shine in the hearts of all who have been born again by your grace;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Source: Roman Mass for the Vigil of Pentecost
Source of this version: Freely modified from The Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church, United Lutheran Church in America © 1918, #8
Original in Latin:
PRÆSTA, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus, ut claritatis tuæ super nos splendor effulgeat; et lux tuæ lucis corda eorum, qui per gratium tuam renati sunt, Sancti Spiritus illustratione confirmet. Per Dominum.
“let the brightness of your glory shine on us” may be a reference to Numbers 6:25 and Psalm 67:1
“Light from Light” is a reference to the Nicene Creed, and is referring to Jesus Christ
“shine in the hearts of all is a reference to 2 Corinthians 4:6
“let the brightness of your glory shine on us” may have been the source of the lines from Luther’s hymn, “Come Holy Ghost, God and Lord,”
“Lord, by the brightness of your light
In holy faith your church unite”
Almighty God,
our heavenly Father,
you feed the birds and clothe the flowers,
and you care for us as a father for his children.
Guard our hearts against faithlessness and anxiety.
By your Holy Spirit, help us
to live to the hallowing of your name,
the coming of your kingdom,
and the doing of your will,
so that we may cast all our cares on you
and in unwavering faith, trust in you;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Source: Austria, 1571. Translation by Paul Zeller Strodach for Common Service Book.
Source of this version: Modified from The Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church, United Lutheran Church in America © 1918, #30
“You feed the birds and clothe the flowers” is a reference to Matthew 6:26-28
“To live to the hallowing of your name…” is a reference to Matthew 6:9-13
“cast all our cares on you” is a reference to 1 Peter 5:7
“Faithlessness and anxiety” in the original is “distrust and vain over-carefulness”
This prayer is very similar to a prayer in A Book of Collects in Two Parts by John Wallace Suter, Freedom from Anxious Care:
ALMIGHTY GOD, who dost feed the birds and clothe the flowers, and who carest for us as a father for his children; Graciously guard us, we beseech thee, against distrust and vain over-carefulness, that casting all our care on thee, we may abide in thy love, to the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord.
O Lord,
you have taught us
all our deeds without love
are worth nothing.
Send your Holy Spirit
and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love,
the very bond of peace and of all virtues,
that we may always live in love before you;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Source: Book of Common Prayer, 1549
Source of this version: Modified from The Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church, United Lutheran Church in America © 1918, #16
Also found here: Prayers Ancient and Modern by Mary Wilder Tileston, Boston, Little Brown, 1914, p. 321 #2
“That we may always live in love before you” in the original is “without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee”
“all our deeds without love are worth nothing” is a reference to 1 Corinthians 13:2-3
“Most excellent gift of love” is a reference to 1 Corinthians 12:31
Dear God and Father,
it is altogether true
that I am not worthy
that you should come under my roof,
but at your own command and invitation
I come to you at your holy table.
I fully and firmly believe
that you have mercifully forgiven my sins.
Preserve me in faith
and in unbroken communion with you.
I do not doubt your word of power.
You have fulfilled it in me,
a poor wretched sinner,
to your glory.
Amen.
Source: Martin Luther
Source of this version: Freely modified The Hymnal and Order of Service, The Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod, 1925, p. 682 #1
This prayer is similar to prayer 158 in Luther’s Prayers, Augsburg Publishing House, © 1967
This prayer paraphrases Matthew 8:8 and is similar to a prayer in the Latin Mass, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” See this article in America: National Catholic Review about the return of the prayer in the most recent revision of the Mass.
See also “Say the Word and I Shall Be Healed” by Wilhelm Löhe.
Lord God, heavenly Father,
we give you praise and thanks
for all your gifts and blessings.
Sustain our souls in true faith and knowledge of you,
just as you have now sustained our bodies.
Amen.
Source: Wilhelm Löhe. Freely adapted from Seed Grains of Prayer, A Manual for Evangelical Christians, Wartburg Press, Chicago, 1914 (#25)
Note: Seed Grains of Prayer… has the note after this prayer, “(1562.)”
Lord God, heavenly Father,
we praise and bless you
for the many blessings you share with us.
Move us to reflect your faithfulness,
since you have abundantly fed and nourished us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Source: Freely adapted from Seed Grains of Prayer, A Manual for Evangelical Christians, Wartburg Press, Chicago, 1914 (#24)
Note: Seed Grains of Prayer… has the note after this prayer, “(1564.)”
A Collection of Prayers 