Tag: acollectionofprayers

Sing a David! Psalm Devotional Study Sheets

I am pleased to announce a new resource from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod’s Commission on Worship. These psalm devotional study sheets lead the reader through the content of each psalm, and each study closes with a prayer taken from A Collection of Prayers’ Mozarabic and Sarum collections of psalm prayers.

The Psalms are the Holy Spirit’s own hymnbook. They are rich in the history of Israel, the prophecies of Christ, the wisdom of God and the steadfast love of the Lord. You probably know a few by heart. It was once required that pastors be able to “sing an entire David,” that is, to know the whole Psalter from memory (Canons of the Second Council of Nicea, Canon 2).

But what if you’re just starting to learn and pray the Psalms?

With your Bible and one of these pages in hand, you should have everything you need to take your first step into any of the 150 Psalms. 

These “One-Sheets” were an outgrowth of the 2024 Institute on Liturgy, Preaching and Church Music where, over the course of the four-day conference, attendees sang and prayed all 150 Psalms together. We are delighted to release this resource for the good of the wider church.

They are ideal for rehearsals so that choirs can sing with understanding. They could be used for Bible study starters or bulletin inserts. Above all, we commend them to your devotional use as a tool to help you pray and sing the Psalms with faith in Jesus Christ.

Pastor Sean Daenzer explains more in this Facebook “reel.”

The studies are grouped by the “books” in the book of psalms, and sets can be downloaded below, or from the LCMS resource page.

Pastor Daenzer told me that these psalm studies may be published together in book form soon. If and when that happens, I will announce it here on A Collection of Prayers.

A Collection of Prayers Annual Report, June 19, 2024

I haven’t posted many new prayers in the last year–only a few new prayers I stumbled on or wrote here and there.

Searches and hits on Martin Luther’s Evening Prayer is now the top item, with “Sanctus / Holy, Holy, Holy,” Go Forth into the World, Kyrie, Eleison / Lord, Have Mercy, In the Midst of Life We Are in Death, and Support Us All the Day Long all in the top hits and searches. The devotional booklet The Scriptural Way of the Cross was also in the top ten searches or views.

Because Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus Dei were some of last year’s top hits, I wrote a series on the Western Rite.

The chief views continue to be from English speaking countries (U.S., U. K., Canada and Australia), but there is growing usage from the Philippines, India and South Africa. We also got one hit from Iran!

Links to A Collection of Prayers

WordPress lets me see referrers, that is, other websites that have a link to A Collection of Prayers. The biggest referrers are the Christian spirituality website www.christianity.com and a liturgy website www.liturgies.net, followed by individual ministries, churches, and even some denominational websites.

The past year was more quiet on A Collection of Prayers because of commitments in my work.

The sale of books pays for the website and supports research. Prayers from the Ancient Celtic Church, Prayers through the Centuries, and The Antiphonary of Bangor were the top sellers in the last year.

In 2024 I published Prayers Ancient Made Modern through Lulu, and also made it available for free in PDF, Word and ePub formats.

The Praying with the Readings series has been further developed electronically. Purchase of the books through Amazon.com includes directions on how to download files through this website, now including HTML pages of links for direct import of the prayers on my denomination’s web application Christian Worship: Service Builder. No more cutting and pasting!

Beyond This Website, Books and Products

A denomination contacted me about using psalm prayers for a worship conference. Devotional publishers have also contacted me about using A Collection of Prayers and some of my books as a source. I am always happy to share my work. People who share free worship materials on their websites have contacted me for permission to use and share–which is what A Collection of Prayers is all about.

May God be glorified and our neighbors edified!