Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live (Psalm 116:2 NASB
).What is a collect?
[Ka’-lect: a gathering prayer with a set sequence of movements based on Scripture. The collect movements include: Humbly calling on the Father; naming or recalling the attribute of God needed for the intercession offered; moving to the specific plea with Biblical warrant, and concluding by the prayer in the name and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Holy Week is beautifully recalled in the collects of each day, culminating in Easter. I offer these prayers from the Anglican tradition, a gift to all believers in every branch of Christ’s one holy Church. I believe these prayers, when prayed in the power of the presence of the Holy Spirit, will be not only a wondrous experience with the living Christ but a glorious means of growth in grace and truth.
Note the Biblical movements of the collect that follows:
O God, who for our redemption gave your only begotten Son to die upon the Cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the devil and the power of death: Grant us grace to die daily to sin, that we may live with him in the joy of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
A Prayer for Praying Saints
Thus, I want to move from describing this approach to God in Christ, to praying to the Lord as we follow the Lord this week.
Our Father and God, even as Thy Son our Savior Jesus the Righteous prayed in Gethsemane as He prepared for His passion, His suffering, and His sacrificial death on the cross, all for Thy sinful children; So, strengthen us in our days of this week—yea, Lord, and in all seasons of Thy grace—to draw closer to Thee in prayer, so that we might more fully love Thee to love others, and to fulfill the Great Commission; Through the precious and matchless name of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
).Palm (or, “Passion”) Sunday
Almighty and everlasting God, in your tender love for us you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon himself our nature, and to suffer death upon the Cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and come to share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Monday
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking the way of the Cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Tuesday
O Lord our God, whose blessed Son gave his back to be whipped and did not hide his face from shame and spitting: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Wednesday
Our Father, Assist us mercifully with your grace, O Lord God of our salvation, that we may enter with joy upon the meditation of those mighty acts by which you have promised us life and immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Maundy Thursday
Almighty Father, whose most dear Son, on the night before he suffered, commanded that we love one another, and expressed His love as He instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it in thankful remembrance of Jesus Christ our Savior, demonstrated how we should love each other, and who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Friday
Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Saturday
O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Day of Resurrection
O God, who for our redemption gave your only begotten Son to die upon the Cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the devil and the power of death: Grant us grace to die daily to sin, that we may live with him in the joy of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
We acknowledge the following resources used in writing this post: The Book of Common Prayer (1662, 1928, 1979, and 2019) , the Anglican Church in North America, the Anglican Communion, the Anglican Compass, and the Reformed Episcopal Church.
Dr. Michael A. Milton (PhD, University of Wales) is the Distinguished Professor of Missions and Evangelism at Erskine Theological Seminary where he also serves as the Director of Chaplain Ministries. The retired fourth presidency and chancellor of the RTS System, Dr. Milton founded and shepherded 3 churches (KS, GA, and NC), and was the senior minister of the historic First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga. Mike Milton is a US Army Chaplain (Colonel) retired, and remains President of the D. James Kennedy Institute of Reformed Leadership. Dr. Milton’s life verse is from Philippians 1:6: “Being confident of this, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it unto the day of Jesus Christ.” Or, as Mike puts it in the title of his autobiography, “What God Starts God Completes.”
