Prayer Resource: Learning the Collect

Throughout our July 2024 sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer, we hope you gained a fresh perspective not only on this prayer, but on prayer in general. The “collect” is a specific form of prayer practiced in certain traditions that loosely follows the form of the Lord’s Prayer using the following:

• An address of God

• A declaration of an attribute or action of God

• A specific request of God

• The reason for the request or the hoped-for result of the answered prayer · A Christological or trinitarian closing with an “Amen”

Here is an example from The Book of Common Prayer :

“Almighty God [address], whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world [attribute]: grant that your people, illumined by your Word and sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory [request], that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth [reason for the request]; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, now and forever [Christological/Trinitarian closing]. Amen.” [italics mine]

Using your words, the collect might offer a practice for personal prayers.

You could begin by thinking about new ways to address God: maybe it’s “Faithful Father” or “Holy God” or “Jesus our Brother” or “Good Shepherd”... addressing God from your heart as you begin praying.

Next, move to an attribute: “who is kind”, “who is full of grace”, “who sees the world and every person in it”....

Then root your request in the way you addressed God and in remembrance of who He is.

Choose your ending; “In Jesus’ Name” or “In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit” or another ending that brings your prayer back to Jesus who taught us to pray.

And as a beloved child of God, whom he listens to, say “Amen.”

May you find your prayers taking on fresh form and new power!