O Lord,
may all who contend for the faith
never injure it by discord and impatience,
but speaking your precious truth in love,
present it that it may be loved,
and that people may see your truth
as goodness and beauty. Amen.
Source: William Bright
Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers Ancient and Modern
by Mary Wilder Tileston, Boston, Little Brown, 1914, p. 107 #2
O Lord,
guide us in your way,
and mercifully show the fountain of your wisdom
to our thirsting minds;
that we may be free from heavy sorrows,
and may drink in the sweetness of life eternal.
Amen.
Source: Mozarabic Rite
Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers Ancient and Modern
by Mary Wilder Tileston, Boston, Little Brown, 1914, p. 80 #1
Graphic: Mozarabic manuscript from the Cathedral of Leon, from Wikimedia Commons.
Rest on us,
O Spirit of Love,
and chase all anger, envy,
and bitter grudges from our souls.
Be our Comforter in trial,
when the storm goes over our heads;
be our Strength in the hour of weakness,
and help us to control the desires of the flesh.
Let us grow in faith and love,
in hope, patience, and humility.
See how many temptations surround us,
and preserve us from giving way to them;
show us the path where we should tread,
for if we trust our own impulses we will go astray;
but if you lead us we shall run in the way of your commandments.
Our hearts lie open before you; enter now with your rich gifts,
strengthen, establish, settle them.
Dwell in them and make them your temple,
so shall we have the pledge of the children of God,
and of our salvation.
Amen.
Source: Johann Friedrich Starck (1680-1756)
Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers Ancient and Modern
by Mary Wilder Tileston, Boston, Little Brown, 1914, p. 76 #1
Send out your light and your truth;
that I may live always near to you, my God.
Let me feel your love, that I may be,
as it were, already in heaven,
that I may do all my work as the angels do theirs;
and let me be ready for every work!
Ready to go out or go in, to stay or depart,
just as you will appoint.
Lord, let me have no will of my own;
or consider my true happiness as depending,
in the smallest degree,
on anything that can befall me outwardly,
but as consisting altogether in conformity to your will.
Amen.
Source: Henry Martyn (1781-1812)
Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers Ancient and Modern
by Mary Wilder Tileston, Boston, Little Brown, 1914, p. 31 #1
“Send out your light and your truth” is a reference to Psalm 43:3
Almighty God,
bestow on us the meaning of words,
the light of understanding,
the nobility of diction,
and faith in what is true.
And grant that what we believe we may also speak.
Source: Hilary of Poitiers
Source of this version: Modified from http://christchurchwindsor.ca/2010/01/13/saint-hilary-of-poitiers/
Also found here: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wendymurray/2014/02/remembering-mister-rogers/
Luther’s Prayer based on the Scripture passage: “Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).
Heavenly Father,
you are indeed my Lord and God!
You made me out of nothing and redeemed me through your Son.
You have commanded and appointed me to perform my duties and labors,
which I, however, cannot accomplish as I desire,
and there are many troubles that frighten and oppress me,
so that I am, as to my own power,
without help and consolation;
therefore I commend all things into your hands.
Help and console me, and be my all in all.
Amen.
Source: attributed to Martin Luther, printed in The Little Treasure of Prayers, Columbus OH, Lutheran Book Concern, 1888 [Die Gebete Luthers, #507]
Original in German:
Himlischer Vatter, du bist je mein Herr und Gott, der mich geschaffen hat, da ich nichts war, dazu mich erlöset hast durch deinen Son; nu hastu mir dises ampt befehlen und aufferlegt, da geht es nit, wie ich will, und ist so vil, das mich trucket und ängstet, da ich bei mir selbst weder raht noch hilff finde, darumb laß ich dir auch solches befohlen sein. Gib du rath und hilff und sei selbst alles inn disen sachen.
Father,
you are full of compassion,
I commit and commend myself to you,
in whom I am and live and know.
Be the Goal of my pilgrimage,
and my Rest by the way.
Let my soul take refuge
from the crowding turmoil of worldly thoughts
beneath the shadow of your wings;
let my heart,
this sea of restless waves,
find peace in you O God.
Amen.
Source: Augustine of Hippo
Source of this version: https://www.theologyofwork.org/the-high-calling/blog/holy-interruptions
Theology of Work Project Online Materials by Theology of Work Project, Inc. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Based on a work atwww.theologyofwork.org
Graphic by Sandro Botticeli from Wikipedia.com.
Lord our God,
of might inconceivable,
of glory incomprehensible,
of mercy immeasurable,
of goodness unspeakable;
O Master, look down on us in your tender love,
and show us and those who pray with us
your rich mercy and compassion.
Amen.
Source: The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
Freely modified from Prayers of the Early Church, ed. J. Manning Potts, The Upper Room, Nashville, Tennessee, © 1953 (Public domain in the U.S.)
Original in Greek
Κύριε ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν,
οὗ τὸ κράτος ἀνείκαστον
καὶ ἡ δόξα ἀκατάληπτος·
οὗ τὸ ἔλεος ἀμέτρητον
καὶ ἡ φιλανθρωπία ἄφατος·
αὐτός, ∆έσποτα, κατὰ τὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν σου, ἐπίβλεψον ἐφ’ ἡμᾶς
καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν ἅγιον οἶκον τοῦτον,
καὶ ποίησον μεθ’ ἡμῶν καὶ τῶν συνευχομένων ἡμῖν,
πλούσια τὰ ἐλέη σου καὶ τοὺς οἰκτιρμούς σου.
O Lord,
with your love
direct us in all our doings,
and always help us,
that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in you,
we may glorify your holy name;
and finally, by your mercy obtain eternal life;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Source: 1789 U. S. Book of Common Prayer, Prayer to be Used at Sea
Source of this version: Freely modified from The Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church, United Lutheran Church in America © 1918, #19
Original in traditional English:
PREVENT us, O Lord, in all our doings with thy most gracious favour, and further us with thy continual help, that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in thee, we may glorify thy holy Name, and finally, by thy mercy, obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
(Prevent as used in King James/Book of Common Prayer era English means go before or lead. That is the reason for our rendering of “direct.”)
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.
A Collection of Prayers 
