Seasonal and Holiday Prayers

Drenched in Holiness Prayer: Prayer for a New Year

Dear God,
On this day I ask You to grant this request…
May I know who I am and what I am,
Every moment of every day.
May I be a catalyst for light and love,
And bring inspiration to those whose eyes I meet.
May I have the strength to stand tall in the face of conflict,
And the courage to speak my voice, even when I’m scared.
May I have the humility to follow my heart,
And the passion to live my soul’s desires.
May I seek to know the highest truth
And dismiss the gravitational pull of my lower self.
May I embrace and love the totality of myself…
My darkness as well as my light.
May I be brave enough to hear my heart…
To let it soften so that I may gracefully
Choose faith over fear.
Today is my day to surrender anything that stands
Between the sacredness of my humanity and my divinity.
May I be drenched in my Holiness
And engulfed by Your love.
May all else melt away.
And so it is.

 

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Canticle of Creation

In the beginning, Lord my God,
You alone existed: eternally one
Yet pregnant in the fullness of unity.
Full to overflowing,
You, Father of All Life, exploded outward
In a billion bits and pieces.
Your word became flesh,
Whirling in shining stars, shimmering suns
And in genesis glimmering galaxies.
You, my God, spoke
And Your Words became flesh:
In sun and moon, earth and seas,
Mountains and gentle hills,
Rolling rivers and silent streams.
You, my God, spoke
And Your Words became flesh: in winged bird, in deer and elephant,
In grazing cow, racing horse, and fish of the deep.
Your Words, so unique and so varied,
Filled the earth also with rabbit, squirrel and ant.
And all Your Words were beautiful,
And all were good.
From each of these Holy Words
Arose a prayer of praise and adoration
To You, their Creator
And Wondrous Womb.
“Praise You,” rang out the redwood,
“Blessed be You,” chimed in the cedar,
“Holy are You,” prayed the prairie grasses.
From all four corners of this earth,
Rose up a chorus of perpetual adoration.
O Sacred Spirit, O Divine Breath of Life,
Unseal my ears that they may ever listen
To Your continuous canticle of creation;
Open my heart and my whole self,
To sing in harmony with all its many voices.
Teach me to commune with Your first Word made flesh,
Your creation,
That I may be able to unravel the wondrous words
Of Your second Word made flesh,
Jesus,
Through whom, with whom, and in whom,
I may see myself as another Word of Yours made flesh,
To Your glory and honor.
Amen.

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Let Us Fast

While fasting with the body,
brothers and sisters,
let us also fast in spirit.
Let us loose every bond of iniquity;
let us undo the knots of every contact
made by violence;
let us tear up all unjust agreements;
let us give bread to the hungry
and welcome to our house
the poor who have no roof to cover them,
that we may receive mercy from
Christ our God.
-Byzantine Vespers

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When We Sin

Jesus, Master, when we sin,
Turn on us thy healing face;
It will melt the offence within
Into penitential grace.

Beam on our bewildered mind
Till its dreamy shadows flee;
Stones cry out where thou hast shined,
Jesus, musical with thee.
-John Henry Newman

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A Lenten Prayer

Look with favor, Lord,
on your household.
Grant that,
though our flesh be humbled
by abstinence from food,
our souls, hungering after you,
may be resplendent in your sight.
-Pope Pius V

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Come, My Light

Come, my Light,
and illumine my darkness.
Come, my Life,
and revive me from death.
Come, my Physician,
and heal my wounds.
Come Flame of divine love,
and burn up the thorns of my sins,
kindling my heart
with the flame of thy love.
-Dimitrii of Rostov

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An Easter Prayer

May the glory
and the promise
of this joyous time of year
bring peace
and happiness to you
and those you hold most dear.

And may Christ,
Our Risen Saviour,
always be there by your side
to bless you
most abundantly a
and be your loving guide.

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Easter Morning

As the world sings triumphant cries to heaven over death that you conquered, help us, Lord, tomorrow as well, when the dresses are put away and the candy is all eaten and on with life we go let us not forget.
The celebration of your resurrection over death is a celebration of life that should continue well beyond the sunrise service and the music, rehearsed for days prior; it is beyond the sign of spring, beyond the lily, beyond new lambs grazing in open fields.
Resurrection is a daily celebration over fear; man's greatest and most powerful enemy. Fear of tomorrow, fear of our yesterdays, fear of what shall become of our young our old our unborn. Resurrection is replacing fear with physical action.
This alone, the most touching and profound of your signs that fear is dead and belief in you brings, not just hope but life.
What better living parable could You have brought? All fear death. All. Even in the garden, You took on our fear if for only moments, it was as real as our fears can be real and You knew then that this single enemy must be destroyed.
And, You sacrificed your life, leaving those who had been comfort, and follower; You left them behind, to conquer fear.
I shall cling to this now, and the tomorrows given me.
Peace and thanksgiving lifted unto you.
Amen.

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Easter Sunday Table Prayer

Creator God and Lord of Life,
You who call forth from the darkness of death
all those who love You,
we rejoice, on this Easter Sunday,
in the resurrection from the dead
of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Visit our home and this table
with Your bright blessing of peace and life.
We pause in the midst of this prayer
to remember all the holy dead of our family
who live now in You and who await
the final and glorious resurrection of the dead.

Pause for silent reflection.

May they and we,
because of our faith in You, our God,
taste in the victory of life over death.
May the Risen Christ, our Lord and Savior,
be our guest as we celebrate His resurrection
with this Easter Sunday dinner.
Bless those whose work to prepare this meal
has truly been a work of prayer,
and bless all of us who shall share it
with Easter love and joy.

May You, then, bless this table and this food,
and each of us
in Your holy name.
Amen.

Hays, Edward, Prayers for the Domestic Church: A Handbook for Worship in the Home (Kansas: Forest of Peace Books, 1979), 125.

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Easter Prayer of St. Hippolytus

Christ is Risen: The world below lies desolate
Christ is Risen: The spirits of evil are fallen
Christ is Risen: The angels of God are rejoicing
Christ is Risen: The tombs of the dead are empty
Christ is Risen indeed from the dead,
the first of the sleepers,
Glory and power are his forever and ever.
-St. Hippolytus of Rome

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Spring

Nothing is so beautiful as spring -
When weeds in wheels shoot long and lovely lush;
Thrushs' eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightning to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.
What is all this juice and all this joy?
A strain of the earth's sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden.–Have, get, before it cloy,
Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid's child, thy choice and worthy the winning.
-Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.

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Prayer for Spring: Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills.
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a boy:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company;
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
-William Wordsworth

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Advent Prayer 1

Lord God, we adore you because you have come to us in the past.
You have spoken to us in the Law of Israel.
You have challenged us in the words of the prophets.
You have shown us in Jesus what you are really like.

Lord God, we adore you because you still come to us now.
You come to us through other people and their love and concern for us.
You come to us through men and women who need our help.
You come to us as we worship you with your people.

Lord God, we adore you because you will come to us at the end.
You will be with us at the hour of death.
You will still reign supreme when all human institutions fail.
You will still be God when our history has run its course.

We welcome you, the God who comes.
Come to us now in the power of Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

 

Contemporary Prayers for Public Worship, ed. Caryl Micklem (London: SCM Press, 1971), 111.

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We Greet Your Coming

We greet your coming, God, with wonder:
You come to be with us; yet you remain far greater than we can imagine.
You are near; yet your wisdom sets you apart from us.
You appear among us; yet we cannot describe your glory.

We greet your coming, God, with repentance:
We are more or less satisfied with ourselves; but your presence exposes our sin and failure.
We are self-confident; but you challenge our confidence in ourselves.
We are proud of our understanding; but you show us that we do not know everything.

We greet your coming, God, with joy:
We had no true idea of what you are like; but you have shown us yourself in Jesus Christ.
We felt our human life could be of no importance to you; but you have shown its value by appearing among us as a man.
We are aware of the gulf between us and you; but you have bridged it with love.

God, we greet your coming in Jesus Christ our Lord!

 

 

Contemporary Prayers for Public Worship, ed. Caryl Micklem (London: SCM Press, 1971), 111-112.

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Christmas Day Table Prayer

Lord God of Life,
together with the beautiful traditions
of decorating the Christmas tree,
of singing carols and giving gifts,
this Christmas dinner is an important part
of our celebration of the birth
of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Come, Lord our God,
and surround our feast day table
as we delight in this joyous season of Christmas.
Gift us in this meal with the taste of happiness
as we savor this coming together
of family and friends.
As sparkling stars and singing angels rejoiced
at the birth of the Christ Child in Bethlehem,
so may we take great joy
in this our Christmas dinner-celebration.

May You, our God, bless it and us
in Your holy name.
Amen.

Hays, Edward, Prayers for the Domestic Church: A Handbook for Worship in the Home (Kansas: Forest of Peace Books, 1979), 123.

 

 

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Christmas Prayer 1

Not gold, nor myrrh, nor even frankincense
would I have for you this season,
but simple gifts, the ones that are hardest to find,
the ones that are perfect,
even for those who have everything (if such there be).
I would (if I could)
have for you the gift of courage,
the strength to face the gauntlets
only you can name,
and the firmness in your heart to know
that you (yes, you!) can be a bearer of the quiet dignity
that is the human glorified.
I would (if by my intention I could make it happen)
have for you the gift of connection,
the sense of standing on the hinge of time,
touching past and future
standing with certainty that you (yes, you!)
are the point where it all comes together.
I would (if wishing could make it so)
have for you the gift of community,
a nucleus of love and challenge,
to convince you in your soul
that you (yes, you!) are a source of light
in a world too long believing in the dark.
Not gold, nor myrrh, nor even frankincense,
would I have for you this season,
but simple gifts, the ones that are hardest to find,
the ones that are perfect,
even for those who have everything (if such there be).
-Rev. Maureen Killoran

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Christmas Prayer 2

Give us, O God, the vision which can see Your love in the world in spite of human failure.
Give us the faith to trust Your goodness in spite of our ignorance and weakness.
Give us the knowledge that we may continue to pray with understanding hearts.
And show us what each one of us can do to set forward the coming of the day of universal peace.
-Frank Borman

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Christmas Prayer 3

Lord, in this holy season of prayer and song and laughter, we praise you for the great wonders you have sent us: for shining star and angel's song, for infant's cry in lowly manger. We praise you for the Word made flesh in a little Child. We behold his glory, and are bathed in its radiance.

Be with us as we sing the ironies of Christmas, the incomprehensible comprehended, the poetry made hard fact, the helpless Babe who cracks the world asunder. We kneel before you shepherds, innkeepers, wise men. Help us to rise bigger than we are. Amen.

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Christmas Prayer 4

Ant. A light shall shine upon us this day: for our Lord is born to us; and He shall be called Wonderful, God, the Prince of peace, the Father of the world to come, of Whose kingdom there shall be no end.

V. A child is born to us.

R. And to us a Son is given.

Let us pray.

Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord our God, that we who rejoice in celebrating the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ may deserve by holiness of life to attain unto fellowship with Him. Who liveth and reigneth forever and ever. Amen.

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Christmas Prayer 5

Heavenly Father,
We give you praise for the ordinariness of Christmas -
that the day comes the same as any other day.
We give you praise that there is no sign in the heavens, and no bright star but the light of your presence in the ordinary birth of the child.
We give you praise that unobtrusively you are in the center of human affairs, involved in the struggle of life, and sharing human experience.
We give you praise that out of compassion you take our part, and open to us a new way of life.  We pray that this day we shall be able to see its true glory.

Contemporary Prayers for Public Worship, ed. Caryl Micklem (London: SCM Press, 1971), 113.

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Christmas Prayer 6 (A Meditation)

Father, our complex industrial society looks for a word from you, and finds this simple pastoral scene of shepherds and a stable.  Show your Church whether it's any good our going on telling the world this particular story.
We love it, of course.  We've loved it since the Church first told it to us, when we were children.  But it hasn't particulary helped us to grow up in wisdom as fast as we grew up in stature.
We thank you for the nostalgia we feel when we hear the Christmas story: but please, our Father, don't let us enjoy the nostalgia too much, in case it encourages us to let our whole religion be an anachronism - something that belongs to a different time in our lives from the time we're now living in, so that we have to waste precious time thinking how to bring it back into the present again.
Teach us that your Son is here, not there.  Remind us that the gospel is in the fact of Christ, not in his setting; and that the story about his birth does not add up to very much without the story of his claims, his deeds, his death, and his disciples.
Father, you have brought each of us here together on the strength of some vision of your glory already seen; and in this we are not so unlike the shepherds.  Help us, then, so to approach Bethlehem that our vision may be verified for us, as theirs was for them.  May we, too, become part of the story of Christ's life.  For his sake.

Contemporary Prayers for Public Worship, ed. Caryl Micklem (London: SCM Press, 1971), 113-114.

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Prayer to Jesus in the Manger

O divine redeemer Jesus Christ, prostrate before thy crib, I believe thou art the God of infinite majesty, even though I do see thee here as a helpless babe. I humbly adore and thank thee for having so humbled thyself for my salvation as to will to be born in a stable. I thank thee for all thou didst wish to suffer for me in Bethlehem, for thy poverty and humility, for thy nakedness, tears, cold and sufferings.

Would that I could show thee that tenderness which thy virgin mother had toward thee, and love thee as she did. Would that I could praise thee with the joy of the angels, that I could kneel before thee with the faith of St. Joseph, the simplicity of the shepherds. Uniting myself with these first adorers at the crib, I offer thee the homage of my heart, and I beg that thou wouldst be born spiritually in my soul. Make me reflect in some degree the virtues of thy admirable nativity. Fill me with that spirit of renunciation, of poverty, of humility, which prompted thee to assume the weakness of our nature, and to be born amid destitution and suffering.Grant that from this day forward, I may in all things seek thy greater glory, and may enjoy that peace promised to men of good will.

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Thanksgiving Table Prayer

Lord God,
our hearts are crowded with gratitude
as we celebrate the feast of Thanksgiving.
We have come to this our feasting table
with great joy and eagerness,
for we are truly grateful to You, our God,
for all that we have been given.
We pause now and, in silent prayer,
do thank You for the great generosity of Your gifts.

Pause for silent reflection.

We also thank one another for gifts -
especially for the gifts of love and affection
that we have freely shared.
We are thankful
for all who are present at this our feast
as well as for all those who have labored in love
in order to bring this dinner to our table.

May You, our God, bless this Thanksgiving feast
and all of us who shall share it
in Your holy name.
Amen.

Hays, Edward, Prayers for the Domestic Church: A Handbook for Worship in the Home (Kansas: Forest of Peace Books, 1979), 122.

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Thanksgiving Prayer 1

For the expanding grandeur of Creation, worlds known and unknown, galaxies beyond galaxies, filling us with awe and challenging our imaginations:
We give thanks this day.
For this fragile planet earth, its times and tides, its sunsets and seasons:
We give thanks this day.
For the joy of human life, its wonders and surprises, its hopes and achievements:
We give thanks this day.
For our human community, our common past and future hope, our oneness transcending all separation, our capacity to work for peace and justice in the midst of hostility and oppression:
We give thanks this day.
For high hopes and noble causes, for faith without fanaticism, for understanding of views not shared:
We give thanks this day.
For all who have labored and suffered for a fairer world, who have lived so that others might live in dignity and freedom:
We give thanks this day
For human liberty and sacred rites; for opportunities to change and grow, to affirm and choose:
We give thanks this day.
We pray that we may live not by our fears but by our hopes, not by our words but by our deeds.
We give thanks this day.
-O. Eugene Pickett

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Thanksgiving Prayer 2

O God, when I have food,

help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work,
help me to remember the jobless;
When I have a home,
help me to remember those who have no home at all;
When I am without pain,
help me to remember those who suffer,
And remembering,
help me to destroy my complacency;
bestir my compassion,
and be concerned enough to help;
By word and deed,
those who cry out for what we take for granted.
Amen.
-Samuel F. Pugh

 

 

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Thanksgiving Prayer 3

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

 

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Thanksgiving Prayer 4

God, ev'ry year about this time,
according to routine,
I've bowed my head in the accepted way
and offered thanks, like some well synchronized machine
that prayed because it was the time to pray.
But, God, this year is different, this year I seem to feel
America's Thanksgiving is my own,
that in my nation's gratitude I have a part that's real,
a part that until now I've never known.
And, God, this year a deep humility has filled my heart,
a newborn pride rings true throuout my soul
because I do belong, because I have and am a part,
a tiny part of one tremendous whole.
I think I know the feeling of those first Americans
who said, "We must give thanks for this, our land."
I cherish now the rights that are each woman's, ev'ry man's,
the rights I've just begun to understand.
This year my heart has learned what all Thanksgiving Days are for,
true thankfulness at last I realize,
but, God, I'm sorry that it took the tragedy of war
in other lands to open up my eyes.Again I bow my head but this time deep within me stirs
a mighty prayer, part of one vast design,
"God, help me make America as proud that I am hers—
as I am proud, and grateful she is mine!"
-Kathryn Kay

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Thanksgiving Prayer 5

Thanksgiving is
a time of gratitude to God, our Creator and Provider,
whose guidance and care go before us...
and whose love is with us forever.

Thanksgiving is
a time to reflect on the changes,
to remember that we, too, grow and change
from one season of life to another.

Thanksgiving is
a time of changing seasons, when leaves turn golden
in Autumn's wake and apples are crisp
in the first chill breezes of fall.

Let us remember the true meaning of Thanksgiving.
As we see the beauty of Autumn,
let us acknowledge the many blessings which are ours...
let us think of our families and friends..
and let us give thanks in our hearts.

 

 

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Thanksgiving Prayer 6

We thank you God,
for creating the world
and for preserving it until now.
We thank you for the regular return of day and night,
and of the seasons,
and for the dependability of nature and of time.
We thank you for memory,
which enables us to build on the experiences of the past;
for imagination,
which admits us to a wider world than we could otherwise know;
and for foresight,
by which we plan for the future.
We thank you for your patience with us in our failings;
for friends and family with whom we can celebrate our successes;
and for those closest to us who support us in our times of need.
Bless this meal and us gathered here.
Bless those who have little food or friends to comfort them in body or spirit.
Bless those who are unable to be with us this day,
and those who have gone before us in faith.
We ask this in your name.
Amen.

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Thanksgiving Prayer 7

O God, we thank you for this earth, our home;
For the wide sky and the blessed sun,
For the salt sea and the running water,
For the everlasting hills
And the never-resting winds,
For trees and the common grass underfoot.
We thank you for our senses
By which we hear the songs of birds,
And see the splendor of the summer fields,
And taste of the autumn fruits,
And rejoice in the feel of the snow,
And smell the breath of the spring.
Grant us a heart wide open to all this beauty;
And save our souls from being so blind
That we pass unseeing
When even the common thorn bush
Is aflame with your glory,
O God our creator,
Who lives and reigns forever and ever.
-Walter Rauschenbusch
(From Living God's Justice: Reflections and Prayers)

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Labor Day Prayer

Good and gracious God,

you told us from the very beginning that we would earn our bread by the sweat of our brow.
We are interdependent in our laboring, Lord.
We depend on the migrant workers who pick our lettuce and our strawberries,
the nurses’ aids who empty bed pans,
the teachers who form our children’s minds.

We thank you, Lord, for the gifts and talents you have given us
that allow us to earn a living and contribute something positive to our world.
We pray, dear Lord, for those who are without work.
Sustain them — us — in your love.
Help us to realize that we have worth as human beings,
job or no job.

But that’s hard to get, Lord.
Our society preaches to us that our worth comes from success,
of being better than the Jones’.
But our worth comes because You made us. We are Your children, no matter what,
job or no job.
You love us and you call us to love and support each other.
We pray, Lord, for those who do the dirty work in our lives, Lord,
those who break their backs for us, those who are cheated out of even a minimum wage,
those who have not access to health care,
those who cannot afford to send their kids to college.

Help us to bind together, Lord, as a community, as a nation
because we depend on one another — the garbage men,
the police, the stock people in our grocery stores,
the UPS driver, the pilots, the 7/11 clerk, the ticket-taker on the turnpike
the plumbers, the accountants, the bank tellers, the landscapers, the lifeguards,
those who clean our houses, the cooks, the waiters, the steel workers, the carpenters,
the scientists, and yes, the writers.

Help us to realize this weekend how dependent we are on one another, Lord.
We are ONE! We are family. We need each other.
Let us give thanks for each other this Labor Day weekend, Lord
Help us to celebrate and give thanks for each other and appreciate
the value, the dignity, the contribution
that each one makes to keep our country, our cities, our lives going.
And in tough times, help us remember the words of Jesus:
Come to me all you who labor
and are heavily burdened
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you . . .
for my yoke is easy and my burden light (Matthew 11:28)
-Bob Traupman

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