Resources for Prayer at Home

On this page we have some suggestions for how to pray at home, and prayers that you could use throughout the day and which address specific situations (such as illness, fear, and sleep).

1. Daily Prayer and Worship

Daily Prayer:

The Daily Offices – Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer (also known as Compline) – can be found on this page which also has a link for Prayer During the Day. This page is updated every day and by clicking on any of the services, you will have access to all of the readings and prayers for that day. If you are saying the prayer on your own, you simply say all of the parts, including those in bold. If you click the link to ‘More Options’ in the middle of the page, you can indicate your preference for services from Common Worship or the Book of Common Prayer:

https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/join-us-service-daily-prayer

You can also download these as an app if you’d like to have access to the Daily Offices each day on your phone or another device (it’s free!). The link to do so is at the bottom of this page: https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/join-us-service-daily-prayer

If you just want one prayer for the day, the Church of England offers a ‘Prayer for the Day’ that is both written and spoken, if hearing a prayer prayed aloud would be helpful for you: https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/join-us-daily-prayer/todays-prayer

And, if you want daily prayer that you can print and use every day, the Church has created a 12-page booklet for Daily Prayer and Reflection. It can be printed or used online and will work for everyday of the week: https://bit.ly/2UrbzTl

Another fantastic option online is the site called ‘Pray As You Go’. It includes a short (11-12 minutes) daily act of prayer and is easy to use. The site (it also has an app by the same name), uses music and pictures to help you pray and reflect with a passage of Scripture. It follows the Roman Catholic calendar, but is widely used by Christians of all traditions. There are also special seasonal meditations. https://pray-as-you-go.org/.

An Ordinary Office is an initiative within the Church of England for those who have difficulty reading. You can find links on this site to Morning, Midday and Evening Prayer either read aloud, as a video, or in symbols. It also includes links to prayers for those having trouble sleeping: http://anordinaryoffice.org.uk/.

2. Online Worship

The BBC has a Daily Service, which is about 15 minutes with a reflection, reading from Scripture, prayers, and hymns. It’s every day at 9.45am on the BBC website and on Radio 4 and you can also listen to services from the last 30 days: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006wzfs

The BBC also has a Prayer for the Day, which is about 3-4 minutes and includes reflection and prayer. It’s on at 5.43am on BBC Radio 4 and you can also listen to prayers from the last 30 days on the BBC website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qmpj/episodes/guide

And then there is Sunday Worship, which is about 40 minutes and includes a full service from a church in the UK. It’s on Sunday mornings at 8.10am on BBC Radio 4. You can also listen to it on the BBC website, as well as services from the previous 3 weeks: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnds

3. Some Practices for Prayer

Prayers of Preparation:

Almighty God,

to whom all hearts are open,

all desires known,

and from whom no secrets are hidden:

cleanse the thoughts of our hearts

by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,

that we may perfectly love you,

and worthily magnify your holy name;

through Christ our Lord. Amen.

God be in my head, and in my understanding;

God be in my eyes, and in my looking;

God be in my mouth, and in my speaking;

God be in my heart, and in my thinking;

God be at mine end, and at my departing. Amen.

Different ways to pray:

The Examen:

This is one way to pray and ask God into each day. It is often a practice used at the end of each day, though can be prayed anytime. The Examen prayer has five steps:

Try to focus on God’s presence with you or ask God to help you remember that God is with you and cares for you
Review the day behind you, with gratitude as best you can. Such as: Thank you God for…
Pay attention to your feelings about the day. Such as: God, today my heart has been touched by joy, sorrow, fear, and/or pain in these ways…
Choose one feature of the day and pray about that. Such as: Loving God, what I need from you today is…
Look to tomorrow. What are your hopes and what are your hesitations? Ask God to help you remember that God is with you.

Lectio Divina:

This prayer helps you to pray while reading Scripture. First pick a short passage of Scripture (some suggestions are below, but it can be anything you like). Read the passage slowly two or three times. Now, ask: What jumps out to you? What might God be saying to you here? How might this passage apply to your life? Is there a phrase that speaks to you today? Then read it again. Now ask: What do you want to say to God? and say that to God in prayer.

Psalm 23

Psalm 46

Psalm 62.8

Psalm 139 (pick a few verses as your focus)

Isaiah 43.1-4

Isaiah 49.1-4

Jeremiah 29.11-14a

Habakkuk 3.17-19

Micah 6.8

Matthew 6.25-34

Matthew 11.28-29

John 14.1-7

John 17.18-23

Romans 8.28-38

Philippians 4.4-13

Colossians 3.12-17

1 Peter 5.6-7

Revelation 21.1-4

All of these can be found at http://bible.oremus.org/ if you don’t have ready access to a Bible at home.

Silence:

Sometimes sitting in silence can be a powerful way to pray. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you.

Music/Hymns:

You might find it helpful to listen to favourite hymns or worship songs, or other pieces of music that have a special meaning for you.

For example, here is a collection of ‘Popular hymns’ that you can listen to: http://bit.ly/PopularHymns (collected by an Anglican priest). These include: Abide with me, All things Bright and Beautiful, Amazing Grace, Jerusalem the Golden, Be Still my Soul, Blest are the Pure in Heart, Dear Lord and Father of Mankind, Eternal Father Strong to Save, Jesus Lover of my Soul, and many more (note that there are some Easter hymns in this mix…)!

Psalms (assembled by the Revd Dr Melody Knowles):

The psalms have given voice to human anxiety and prayer for centuries. Here are some ancient prayers for those who are anxious:

“Listen to my cry for help, for I have been brought very low.”
Prayers for help: Psalms 27, 90, 138, and 142
“I have taken refuge in you.”
Prayers expressing confidence in God’s protection: Psalms 46, 91, 100, and 121
“I sought the LORD, and God answered me.”
Prayers of thanksgiving for God’s salvation: Psalms 34 and 116
“Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul?”
Prayers of encouragement to trust in God: Psalms 42, 71, 77, and 130

4. Prayers

Prayers for those who are ill or isolated:

Merciful God,
we entrust to your tender care
those who are ill or in pain,
knowing that whenever danger threatens
your everlasting arms are there to hold them safe.
Comfort and heal them,
and restore them to health and strength;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O God, help me to trust you,
help me to know that you are with me,
help me to believe that nothing can separate me
from your love
revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

We are not people of fear:
we are people of courage.
We are not people who protect our own safety:
we are people who protect our neighbours’ safety.
We are not people of greed:
we are people of generosity.
We are your people God,
giving and loving,
wherever we are, whatever it costs
For as long as it takes
wherever you call us. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your disciples,
‘I am with you always’.
Be with me today, as I offer myself to you.
Hear my prayers for others and for myself,
and keep me in your care. Amen.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

(from St Patrick’s Breastplate)

Almighty God: Our times are in your hand.

We call upon you in this hour of our need, when we are lonely and must stand apart.

Be our strength, O Sovereign Lord, our calm in the midst of raging seas, our refuge and our dwelling place.
Sanctify to us this time drawn away from others,
even as your Son, O Father, drew away to a lonely place for prayer.
Deepen our need of you, O Lord, that every breath may be a whisper of the Spirit’s prompting,
a renewed searching of the deep things of God.

Stir up in us the great act of intercession, that we may spend our time apart
in prayer for the world you created and sustain.
Bless us in our turning toward you, and make us a blessing to those who stand in need of you,
the whole fragile earth.

All this we ask in the name of great Physician, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(from the Revd Dr Kate Sonderegger)

Be with us, Lord, in all our prayers,
and direct our way toward the attainment of salvation,
that among the changes and chances of this mortal life,
we may always be defended by your gracious help,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(from Common Worship)

Suffering God,

your Beloved Son endured temptations and the wilderness for forty days after his Baptism.
New life gave him suffering.

The Light was dark and the Word without a voice.

From the solitary Jesus we learn that the broken bread is our only food.

For once and always, O Lord, be present to those in self-quarantine.

Give them ears to hear you say: “I am here.”

Give them the grace to breathe in the perfect love that casts out fear.

Give them food for their bodies and hope for their beings.

This is our prayer for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

In the healing name of Jesus, we make our petitions. Amen.

(from the Revd Dr Barney Hawkins)

Prayer for hospital staff and medical researchers:

Gracious God,
give skill, sympathy and resilience
to all who are caring for the sick,
and your wisdom to those searching for a cure.
Strengthen them with your Spirit,
that through their work many will be restored to health;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(from the Church of England Liturgical Commission)

This hour we turn to you, O Lord, in full knowledge of our frailty, our vulnerability,
and our great need as your mortal creatures.

We cry to you, as one human family, unsure of the path ahead, unequal to the unseen forces around us,
frightened by the sickness and death that seem all too real to us now.

Stir up your strength and visit us, O Lord; be our shield and rock and hiding place!
Guide our leaders, our scientists, our nurses and doctors.
Give them wisdom and fill their hearts with courage and determination.

Make even this hour, O Lord, a season of blessing for us, that in fear we find you mighty to save,
and in illness or death, we find the cross to be none other than the way of life.

All this we ask in the name of the One who bore all our infirmities,
even Jesus Christ our Risen and Victorious Lord. Amen.

(from the Revd Dr Kate Sonderegger)

Prayers for the Night:

Be present, O merciful God,

and protect us through the silent hours of this night,

so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this fleeting world,

may rest upon your eternal changelessness;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Abide with us, Lord, for it is evening,

and day is drawing to a close.

Abide with us and with your whole Church,

in the evening of the day,

in the evening of life,

in the evening of the world;

abide with us and with all your faithful ones, O Lord,

in time and in eternity. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,

who at this evening hour lay in the tomb

and so hallowed the grave

to be a bed of hope for all who put their trust in you:

give us such sorrow for our sins,

which were the cause of your passion,

that when our bodies lie in the dust,

our souls may live with you forever. Amen.

(from Common Worship)

God our Father, by whose mercy
the world turns safely into darkness and returns again to light:
we place in your hands our unfinished tasks,
our unsolved problems, and our unfulfilled hopes,
knowing that only what you bless will prosper.
To your love and protection
we commit each other and all those we love,
knowing that you alone are our sure defender,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(from the Church of South India)

Lord, it is night.

The night is for stillness.

Let us be still in the presence of God.

It is night after a long day.

What has been done has been done; what has not been done has not been done; let it be.

The night is dark.

Let our fears of the darkness of the world and of our own lives rest in you.

The night is quiet.

Let the quietness of your peace enfold us, all dear to us, and all who have no peace.

The night heralds the dawn.

Let us look expectantly to a new day, new joys, new possibilities.

In your name we pray. Amen.

(from the New Zealand Prayer Book)