AJ the Irish Lass' Ramblings

A woman praying

You’ll notice that the priest says a prayer that’s called a collect. Why is it called that, specifically? Mainly, because it is a form of collective prayer, meant to “collect” the prayers of the congregation. We join our friends in the Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches by the use of these prayers.

These are prayers that focus on the occasion being celebrated that Sunday, and you’ll find that the words used in the collect share a common theme with the Scripture readings for the day (which will be addressed in the section for next week). You’ll find that not only do these prayers paraphrase Scripture, but they are also Trinitarian in nature. They’re a great example of how we truly offer prayers “in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit”.

From prayers that were included in the 1549 prayer book and adapted into modern language to modern prayers written during the Civil Rights Movement, these collects show how we’ve maintained a practice of being willing to pray for all things.