The Prayers

A word before you begin. God is not moved by the right phrases. The prayer he answered most quickly in all the Gospels was three words long, from a man who could barely lift his eyes: "God, be merciful." You do not need these prayers, or any prayers. Pray in the form your family already uses, in your own words, or in no words at all. Silence turned toward God is prayer. These are here for the days when you want to say something and cannot find it, and for the times a household wants one voice to carry them all.

Part One: The prayers of the table

These belong to the Sunday gathering. They are printed in full on the order card; they are here so you can hold them apart, read them slowly, and learn them by heart. Their place in the gathering is set by the card.

To open

Father, we are gathered in your name, a few people at one table, the way your first followers gathered. Be among us now. Open our eyes to your Son and our hearts to each other, and keep us awake and watching for the day of his coming. Amen.

Said at the start, by one voice.

The peace

Peace be with you.

And also with you.

Said to one another, after you have made peace with anyone at the table you are at odds with.

Over the bread

We thank you, our Father, for the life and the knowledge you made known to us through Jesus. As grain was once scattered across the hills and then gathered into one loaf, gather your people from everywhere into your kingdom. To you be the glory, through Jesus Christ, forever. Amen.

Said over the bread before it is broken and shared. These are among the oldest table words the church has, older than most of the New Testament.

Over the cup

We thank you, our Father, for the true vine of David, made known to us through Jesus your servant. To you be the glory forever. Amen.

Said over the cup.

The thanksgiving

We thank you, holy Father, for your name that lives in our hearts, and for all you have made known to us through Jesus. You made all things for your own sake. To you be the glory forever. Amen.

Said after the bread and cup, by one voice or by all together.

To close

Let grace come, and let this world pass away. Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus.

The last words of the gathering. Maranatha is a single word in the language Jesus spoke, and the first watchers prayed it. It means "Lord, come."

Part Two: Other openings and closings

A year at the same table can wear one groove. Here are a few more ways to begin and end, in the same spirit as the ones on the card. Use them when you want a change, or when one of them fits the week better than the set words.

Other ways to open

Father, here we are again, the same few people at the same table. Thank you for the week we have had, the good in it and even the hard. Sit with us while we eat. Turn us back toward your Son, and keep our eyes on the road. Amen.

Lord Jesus, you said that where two or three come together in your name, you are there among them. We are here. Be among us. Amen.

Father, we have nothing to bring you tonight but ourselves, and some of us come tired. That is enough to start with. Meet us here. Amen.

Other ways to close

Keep us through this week, Father. Make us kind when it is hard to be kind, honest when a lie would be easier, and awake to you in the middle of ordinary days. Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus.

We go back now to our work and our homes. Go with us. And come, Lord Jesus, soon. Amen.

Watch over everyone who could not be at this table tonight, the ones far off and the ones we have lost. Bring us all home to you in the end. Maranatha.

Part Three: Prayers for the ordinary days

These are for the rest of life, away from the table. Say them alone, or over someone, or with whoever is near. They are short on purpose. When you pray for a thing, we do not promise you will get it; Jesus himself asked to be spared the cross and was not. What we trust is that you are heard, and held, and that nothing you carry to God is carried alone.

For someone who is sick

Father, N is sick, and we are afraid. Be near them. Ease what hurts. Steady the hands of everyone caring for them. We ask for healing, plainly, because we want it. And whatever comes, do not let them feel alone in it, and do not let us leave them alone in it. Amen.

Say the person's name where the N is.

In grief, after a death

Father, N is gone, and the room is empty where they were. We do not understand it and we will not pretend to. We give them back to you now, trusting they came from you and return to you, the way every wave returns to the water. Hold them. Hold us. Teach us how to carry this. Amen.

For a new child

Father, thank you for this child. We did not earn them and we cannot keep them safe from everything, though we would give our lives to try. Watch the road ahead of them. Make us the kind of people they can learn love from. And when they are old enough to look for you, let them find you already close. Amen.

Before a journey

Keep us on the way, Father, and bring us home. Watch the people we leave behind and the people we go toward. Amen.

For a new home

Father, this is our home now. Let it be a place where the door opens easily, where the hungry are fed and the tired can rest, and where your Son would be at ease if he came to the table. Amen.

At the end of a hard week

Father, this week took more than we had. We are worn down and short of patience and not much use to anyone right now. We are not asking you to fix it tonight. We only came to sit with you a while, and to be reminded that we belong to you even on the weeks we have nothing to give. That is enough. Amen.

In thanks, when the week was good

Father, it was a good week, and we noticed, and we wanted to say so before we forgot. Thank you. Keep us grateful, and keep us awake to the ones for whom this week was hard. Amen.

For an enemy, or someone you cannot forgive

Father, you know who I am thinking of. I cannot make myself feel kindly toward them, not yet, and I will not lie to you about it. But you asked us to pray for them, so here I am, doing the one thing I can. Do the work in me that I cannot do myself. And do not let me become like the thing I am angry at. Amen.

This one is hard, and it is meant to be. Say it even when you do not mean it. Meaning it is what it is for.

At night, before sleep

Father, the day is done and I did some of it badly. Forgive me the wrong I did and the good I left undone. Watch over the people I love while they sleep. And if you come in the night, find me ready. Maranatha.

A prayer a child can say

Thank you, God, for today. Help me be kind tomorrow. Watch over everyone I love while we sleep. Amen.

Part Four: On praying in your own way

Everything here is on loan. If the set words help, use them; learning a prayer by heart means you have it on the nights you cannot think. But the Father is not a lock that these are the keys to. Jesus gave his followers only one prayer when they asked him to teach them, the one we call the Lord's Prayer, and even that he gave as a pattern, not a cage. Pray it in the form your family knows. Pray in your own words when they come. Sit in silence when they do not. A house where people talk to God plainly, in whatever words they have, is closer to the first followers than any book of prayers could make it.

Sources

The table prayers over the bread and cup, and the opening and closing lines of the gathering, are adapted into plain modern English from the Didache, a handbook of the earliest church written within living memory of the apostles. They are among the oldest Christian prayers that survive. The rest are newly written for this Ministry in the house voice. None of these prayers is scripture, and none is presented as scripture; they are our words, offered to help you pray, and always open to being set aside for your own.