Prayer

The house is too quiet now. Somewhere there is a bag that was packed and never needed. A door you have not been able to open. A name you chose months ago and now say only to yourself, when nobody is listening. And people keep asking how you are, and you keep saying fine, because … Read more

Canadian Thanksgiving falls on Monday, October 12 this year — the second Monday of October, as it has been since 1957. If you have been asked to say grace and the turkey is already on the table, start here. The Canadian Thanksgiving Prayers and short blessings below take under thirty seconds each. Everything else on … Read more

The offering is one of the few moments in a church service when worship becomes something you can hold in your hand. A check folded in an envelope, a few bills in the plate, a tap on a giving app. It is easy for that moment to become routine. A short prayer is what turns … Read more

Homecoming Sunday is the day a church opens its doors wide and says, “Welcome home.” Former members drive in from out of state, grown children bring their own families, and the pews fill the way they did years ago. It is a day of hugs on the steps, old hymns, and long tables of food … Read more

Every church runs on leaders most people never think to pray for by name. There’s the pastor, of course. But there are also the elders who make hard decisions behind closed doors, the deacons who show up when a family is in crisis, the Sunday school teacher who has taught the same class of fourth … Read more

The church looks different on harvest Sunday. There are marrows and loaves on the table, tins stacked in boxes for the food bank, children holding paper sunflowers, and someone in the back row who farms for a living and knows exactly what kind of year it has been. If you’ve been asked to give the … Read more

Communion Sunday has a different feel from other Sundays. The service slows down. The table at the front is set. And whoever is leading has to find the right words at several points: to open the service, to give thanks for the bread, to give thanks for the cup, and to send people home. This … Read more

Autumn asks something of us that summer never does. The days shorten, the harvest comes in, the leaves let go, and the year begins to wind down. It is a season that turns most people’s thoughts toward gratitude, change, and rest. This collection has two parts. The first is a set of prayers for the … Read more

If you have been asked to give the closing prayer at your church’s pastor appreciation service, you have one of the most meaningful moments of the day. The tributes have been read, the gifts have been given, and the Word has been preached. Your prayer gathers all of that up and hands it back to … Read more

Once a year, before the first bell rings, Christian students across the United States and in other countries walk to their school flagpole and pray. The event is called See You at the Pole, and it happens on the fourth Wednesday of September. There is no stage, no band, and usually no microphone. Just students, … Read more