Community Prayer Resources

Prayer

One of the oldest communal worship practices is daily prayer. Daily prayer was part of ancient Jewish practice; the faithful would gather at the synagogue twice daily to offer up the “morning and evening sacrifice” of prayer and worship. Early Christians continued this practice. Later, Benedictine monks added additional prayer times so that the community members met a total of seven times each day (“Seven times a day I will praise you” - Psalm 119:164).

The form of prayer which was honed over centuries in their communities was taken up by English Protestants in the Rites of Morning and Evening Prayer of the Book of Common Prayer. Many modern variations exist; one of the best is the Books of Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle adapted it. Recently, new monastics Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove developed Common Prayer for Ordinary Radicals, which infused the traditional prayers with social justice concerns.

DAILY PRAYER RESOURCES

  1. The Book of Common Prayer, the standard English-language prayer book, can be viewed online at bcponline.org.

  2. Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Enuma Okoro Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (Zondervan, 2013). The prayers are available online at commonprayer.net.

  3. The Northumbria Community also has a well-developed set of daily prayers which guests may join online here.

  4. Phyllis Tickle’s series The Divine Hours is a great place to learn fixed hour prayer.

  5. Scot McKnight, Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today (Paraclete Press, 2006).

  6. Some communities sing their thanksgiving before meals, especially when gathered together. Here is one collection: Daily Table Graces

OTHER RESOURCES

  1. Articles and books on prayer from Bruderhof’s Plough Publishing

  2. Cries from the Heart by Johann Christoph Arnold, free on request: email NCNplough@gmail.com