O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Almighty and everlasting God, who in your tender love toward the human race sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our flesh and to suffer death upon the cross: grant that we may follow the example of his patience and humility, and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever. Amen.
O God, you are the fountain of all truth; we ask you to protect your church from all false teaching.
Protect the Church
From all teaching and preaching which would destroy men’s faith; From all that removes the old foundations without putting anything in their place; From all that confuses the simple, that perplexes the seeker, that bewilders the way-faring man.
And yet at the same time protect the Church from the failure to face new truth;
From devotion to words and ideas which the passing of the years has rendered unintelligible; From all intellectual cowardice and from all mental lethargy and sloth.
O God, send to your Church teachers,
Whose minds are wise with wisdom; Whose hearts are warm with love; Whose lips are eloquent with truth.
Send to your Church teachers
Whose desire is to build and not to destroy; Who are adventurous with the wise, and yet gentle with the simple; Who strenuously exercise the intellect, and who yet remember that the heart has reasons of its own.
Give to your Church preachers and teachers who can make known the Lord Christ to others because they know him themselves; and give to your Church hearers, who, being freed from prejudice, will follow truth as blind men long for light.
O God, we thank you for all those in whose words and in whose writings your truth has come to us. For the historians, the psalmists, and the prophets, who wrote the Old Testament. For those who wrote the Gospels and the Letters of the New Testament; For all who in every generation have taught and explained and expounded and preached the word of Scripture; We thank you, O God. Grant, O God, that no false teaching may ever have any power to deceive us or to seduce us from the truth. Grant, O God, that we may never listen to any teaching which would encourage us to think sin less serious, vice more attractive, or virtue less important; Grant, O God, that we may never listen to any teaching which would dethrone Jesus Christ from the topmost place; Grant, O God, that we may never listen to any teaching which for its own purposes perverts the truth.
O God, our Father, establish us immovably in the truth. Give us minds which can see at once the difference between the true and the false; Make us able to test everything, and to hold fast to that which is good; Give us such a love of truth, that no false thing may ever be able to lure us from it. So grant that all our lives we may know, and love, and live the truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. —From Prayers for the Christian Year by William Barclay
Eternal Father, who at the baptism of Jesus revealed him to be your Son, anointing him with the Holy Spirit: grant to us, who are born again by water and the Spirit, that we may be faithful to our calling as your adopted children; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
O God, who by the leading of a star manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: mercifully grant that we, who know you now by faith, may at last behold your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
Governor of Nations, our Strength and Shield: we give you thanks for the devotion and courage of all those who have offered military service for this country:
For those who have fought for freedom; for those who laid down their lives for others; for those who have borne suffering of mind or of body; for those who have brought their best gifts to times of need. On our behalf they have entered into danger, endured separation from those they love, labored long hours, and borne hardship in war and in peacetime.
Lift up by your mighty Presence those who are now at war; encourage and heal those in hospitals or mending their wounds at home; guard those in any need or trouble; hold safely in your hands all military families; and bring the returning troops to joyful reunion and tranquil life at home;
Give to us, your people, grateful hearts and a united will to honor these men and women and hold them always in our love and our prayers; until your world is perfected in peace.
All this we ask through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Blessed are you, Sovereign God,
ruler and judge of all,
to you be praise and glory for ever.
In the darkness of this age that is passing away
may the light of your presence which the saints enjoy
surround our steps as we journey on.
May we reflect your glory this day
and so be made ready to see your face
in the heavenly city where night shall be no more.
Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God for ever. Amen.
Almighty God,
you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship
in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord:
grant us grace so to follow your blessed saints
in all virtuous and godly living
that we may come to those inexpressible joys
that you have prepared for those who truly love you;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Almighty God, who in the passion of your blessed Son made an instrument of painful death to be for us the means of life and peace: grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ that we may gladly suffer for his sake; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ was lifted high upon the cross that he might draw the whole world to himself: Mercifully grant that we, who glory in the mystery of our redemption, may have grace to take up our cross and follow him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
You must be logged in to post a comment.