church – A Collection of Prayers

For the Brothers

Lord Jesus,
you did choose your apostles to the number of twelve,
and if one of them did betray you,
the others, remaining united to you,
preached your holy Gospel,
filled with one and the same inspiration.
O Lord, look on your church now,
and remember the former days,
when you called your people into one family to uphold faith,
that by them the mystery of your Gospel may be accomplished.
Who will take their place if they give themselves up to the works of darkness
instead of fulfilling their mission and being shining examples for all? Amen.

Source: Francis of Assisi, 13th Century
Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers of the Middle Ages, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1954.

A Good Example

O Lord,
make us flourish like pure lilies
in the courts of your house,
and make us display to your people
the fragrance of good works
and the example of a godly life;
through your mercy, O our God,
you are blessed,
and live and govern all things,
now and forever. Amen.

Source: Mozarabic Sacramentary, 7th Century

Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers of the Middle Ages, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1954. (The New Ancient Collects, #282)

For the Faithful

O Lord Almighty,
the Most High,
who dwells on high,
the Holy One,
who rests among the saints,
without beginning,
the Only Power.
By Christ you have given us the preaching of knowledge,
that we may confess your glory and your name,
which he has made known to us,
for our understanding.
Through him look down on this your flock,
and deliver it from all ignorance and wickedness,
and grant that we may fear you in earnest,
and love you with affection,
and have a due reverence of your glory.
Be gracious and merciful to us,
and listen to us when we pray to you.
Keep us,
that we may be steadfast and blameless,
and holy in body and spirit,
without spot or wrinkle,
or any other blemish,
but complete,
and none of us defective or imperfect.
You are our support,
our powerful God,
you are not influenced by people.
Help your people,
whom you have redeemed with the precious blood of your Christ.
Be their protector,
helper, provider, and guardian,
their strong wall of defense,
their bulwark and security.
For “none can snatch them out of your hand.”
There is no other God like you.
We rely on you.
“Sanctify us by your truth; your word is truth.” Amen.

Source: Apostolic Constitutions

Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers of the Early Church, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1953

All Things Are Being Restored by Christ

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light,
look favorably on your whole Church,
which is a wonderful and sacred mystery.
In your eternal foreknowledge,
you peacefully do your saving work for humanity.
Let the whole world know
that things that were cast down are being raised up,
and things that had grown old are being made new,
and all things are being restored by him
in whom they have their beginning;
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Source: Gelasian, Holy Saturday, freely modified from Ancient Collects, ed. William Bright, p. 98#2

The Gates of Hell Will Not Prevail

O God,
you promised
that you would be with your Church
to the end of the age,
and that the gates of hell
will never prevail
against the apostolic confession.
Make your strength perfect in our weakness,
and keep your divine promise
and be present with your weakest members.
Give each of us what we ask,
as it pleases you,
guard us from the attacks of all our enemies,
and assure us with your presence.

Source: Leonine Sacramentary, Bright’s Ancient Collects, p. 97.2, The New Ancient Collects, #322.

Give Us What Is Good, Make Us Ready, Unite Us

O gracious King of ages,
Master of all creation,
receive your Church that approaches you through Christ.
Give each of us what is good,
bring us all to completeness
and make us ready by your sanctifying grace.
Unite us together in your Holy Church,
which you purchased with the precious blood of your only Son,
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ;
with him, and with your all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit,
you are blessed and glorified forever.

Source: Liturgy of St. James, freely modified from Ancient Collects, ed. William Bright, p. 130.1

Benignant

The Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church

The Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church was published in several editions, text only and text with music in 1917 and 1918. It is freely available through Google Books (text, text with music) and Archive.org (text, text with music). It was put together by the United Lutheran Church in America and several other American Lutheran bodies. Because of the date of publication, it is now in the public domain.

Other worship books like The Lutheran Hymnary (Norwegian Synods, 1913), Evangelical-Lutheran Hymn Book (LCMS, 1912), Book of Hymns (WELS, 1931) and The Lutheran Hymnal (LCMS-WELS-ELS Synodical Conference, 1941) drew from earlier versions of the rites when the Common Service was researched and compiled in 1888. Service Book and Hymnal (1958) built on the work of the Common Service Book and in many areas expanded the options in its services. Modern hymnals such as Lutheran Book of Worship, Lutheran Worship, Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal, Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, Evangelical Lutheran Worship, and Lutheran Service Book have all been greatly influenced by the rites and prayers in Common Service Book.

csb The services of the Common Service Book are in the tradition of the Western Rite. Roman Catholics will recognize these services as very similar to the texts of the Mass and the liturgies of the hours. Anglicans/Episcopalians will see common elements to the Book of Common Prayer.

The Common Service Book used Scripture texts from the King James Version of the Bible, used British spellings (Saviour, honour, etc.), and capitalized pronouns referring to the Deity, including Who/Whom, along with other words such as Name when referring to the name of God.

For this electronic edition, different editions were consulted, so the files below may not be exactly the same as any one print edition. These files were made by modifying and correcting the texts that were generated by the pdf files of the original books and putting them into a usable format. Headings and rubrics were put in red, even though they were printed black in the original books.

To properly display the docx files, you will need the fonts Old English Text MT and Liturgy. Updated contemporary versions also use the Liturgikon symbol font (embedded in the docx documents).

The Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church, Electronic Resources

The Calendar [pdf] [docx]
The Service [pdf] [docx]
- Updated version in contemporary English [pdf] [docx]
Matins [pdf] [docx]
- Updated version in contemporary English [pdf] [docx]
Vespers [pdf] [docx]
- Updated version in contemporary English [pdf] [docx]
Introits, Collects, Epistles, Graduals and Gospels [pdf] [docx]
- Updated versions of the introits, collects and graduals and lessons (ESV), prepared for the LCMS Lutheran Service Book are available at www.sanctus.org.
Sentences for the Seasons [pdf] [docx]
- Updated version in contemporary English [pdf] [docx]
Invitatories, Antiphons and Responsories [pdf] [docx]
Collects and Prayers [pdf] [docx]
- Updated version in contemporary English [pdf] [docx]
The Litany [pdf] [docx]
- Updated version in contemporary English [pdf] [docx]
The Suffrages [pdf] [docx]
- Updated version in contemporary English [pdf] [docx]
The Bidding Prayer [pdf] [docx]
- Updated version in contemporary English [pdf] [docx]
The General Prayers [pdf] [docx]
The Canticles [pdf] [docx]
- Biblical texts from ESV and other texts updated in contemporary English [pdf] [docx]
Order for Public Confession (not in all editions of Common Service Book) [pdf] [docx]
The Occasional Services [pdf] [docx]
General Rubrics [pdf] [docx]

The hymns of the Common Service Book with Hymnal are available at Hymnary.org.

There’s more! Go to index.acollectionofprayers.com to access prayers by era, topic, liturgical use and author!

Put a link to the index on your computer or phone’s desktop for instant access to A Collection of Prayers as an online prayer book!

Lutheran Service Book, Evangelical Lutheran Worship, Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal