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Japanese “Lord, teach us to pray.”
Luke 11:1
Praying Out Loud
Ten short Lessons for anyone who has been asked to pray aloud and is not sure what to say: how to open a gathering, how to close one, what to say at a meal, what each church already gives for communion, baptisms, weddings, and funerals, how to pray with the grieving and the sick, how to lead a group’s prayers every week and the prayers of the people on Sunday, and what to do when someone turns to you with no warning.
10 Lessons · About 2¼ hours · $99 · Lesson 1 free to read
Who the course is for.
If you are asked to pray at church.
A deacon opening a service, an elder at a meeting, a volunteer leading a Bible study or a Sunday school class, or a reader leading the prayers of the people. Lesson 1 gives you a four-line shape for any prayer. Lesson 2 covers opening a gathering, and Lesson 3 covers closing one, including when to say “bless us” instead of “bless you.” Lesson 9 covers leading a group’s prayers week after week, and Lesson 10 the intercessions at a Sunday service.
If you are asked to say grace.
At a family dinner, a holiday, a wedding reception, or a church supper. Lesson 4 covers what to say, how to remember someone who has died since the family last gathered, and what to do at a table where not everyone believes.
If you may be asked at a hard moment.
At a funeral, beside a hospital bed, or on the spot. Lesson 5 explains what your church already gives for the great services and what a lay person is usually asked to pray. Lesson 7 covers the four places you may be asked to pray around a funeral, and Lesson 8 what to say at a bedside, at home or in hospital. Lesson 6 covers the first ten seconds, the prayers everyone knows, and what to do if you lose your place.
The ten Lessons.
Each Lesson ends with a short practice and a prayer. Start with Lesson 1, because the others use its four-line shape. After that you can take them in any order.
01
Why Your Mind Goes Blank
What is the four-line shape that gets me through any public prayer?
When Peter and John were threatened, the church in Jerusalem prayed aloud together, and Luke records their prayer in Acts 4. It names God, says who he is, asks for one thing, and closes in the name of Jesus. The Lesson turns those four moves into four lines you can write on a card, and finds the same shape in a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer.
02
Opening a Gathering
How do I call people to prayer without performing?
The Book of Common Prayer calls people to prayer in three short lines, ending with “Let us pray.” The Lesson covers the invitation, the pause before you begin, praying “we” and “us,” and asking God for the one thing the gathering is for, whether it is worship, a Bible study, a meeting, or a class. It also answers whether someone who is not a pastor should be leading prayer at all.
03
Closing
How do I bless, send people out, and stop?
Where Paul wrote “be with you all,” the Prayer Book says “be with us all.” The Lesson explains why that change matters for a lay person, which blessings Scripture already gives, and how to end: thank, send, stop.
04
The Table
What do I say at a meal or a family gathering?
Jesus gave thanks before he broke bread, whether he was feeding five thousand or eating supper with two disciples at Emmaus. The Lesson covers a grace of about twenty seconds, a line for anyone missing, written graces for families, and what Paul did when he gave thanks in front of 276 people on a storm-driven ship.
05
Words Already Given
What do communion, baptism, weddings and funerals already provide, church by church?
Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran churches have set prayers for communion, baptism, weddings, and funerals. Many Baptist, Pentecostal, and non-denominational churches pray in their own words. The Lesson shows which churches do which and why, and what you may be asked to pray at each of those services. It includes four lines for churches where members pray before the bread.
06
Asked With No Warning
What do I do when someone turns to me right now?
When the king of Persia asked Nehemiah a sudden question, Nehemiah “prayed to the God of heaven” and then answered the king. The Lesson covers the first ten seconds, the Lord’s Prayer and the Bible’s one-line prayers, praying at a bedside, and what to do if you cry or lose your place.
07
At a Funeral
What do I pray before, during and after a funeral?
At the grave of his friend Lazarus, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life,” and then he wept. The Lesson covers the four places a lay person may be asked to pray, with the family before the service, at the graveside, at the meal, and at a memorial months later. It explains grief that keeps its hope, why Catholic and Orthodox Christians pray for the dead and many Protestants do not, and what to leave out when a death was hard.
08
With Someone Who Is Sick
What do I say at a bedside, at home or in hospital?
The 1928 Book of Common Prayer’s service for visiting the sick begins at the door with “Peace be to this house,” the words Jesus gave the seventy. The Lesson covers what to ask before you pray, how to ask for healing and for peace in the same prayer, what each church does with James’s instruction to call the elders, how to pray in a hospital room, and what to say when someone is dying.
09
Leading a Group Every Week
How do I open and close a Bible study or class week after week without saying the same prayer?
When Herod put Peter in prison, Luke writes, “constant prayer was made by the assembly to God for him.” The Lesson shows how to take a Bible study’s opening prayer from the week’s passage, so it changes when the text does, how to keep a written list of requests and keep private things private, how to hand the prayer around without putting anyone on the spot, and how to pray with children in short lines.
10
The Prayers of the People
How do I lead the intercessions at a Sunday service?
The first letter to Timothy asks prayers “for kings and all who are in high places,” written when those kings were not Christians. The Lesson gives the order of intercession the churches share, who leads it in each tradition, and how to write one line for each need that the whole church can answer, with particular care for leaders, the sick, and the week’s news.
The opening of Lesson 1.
From Lesson 1, Why Your Mind Goes Blank
The first Christians in Jerusalem prayed aloud together soon after Peter and John were arrested and threatened. Luke gives the prayer in Acts 4. It opens by naming God and saying who he is: “O Lord, you are God, who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them.” It recalls what God had already said through David. It asks for one thing, the thing they needed that day: “grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness.” And it ends “through the name of your holy Servant Jesus.”
Those are the four moves, and you can use them for any occasion.
The rest of Lesson 1 fills in the four moves for a church committee meeting, finds the same shape in a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, and answers whether a planned prayer is less sincere than one from the heart. It ends with a practice: writing your own four lines on a card that the later Lessons come back to. Read Lesson 1 free.
Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant.
Christians of every church pray aloud together, and they all pray in the name of Jesus. They differ over who says which prayers, and over whether the great services use set words or the minister’s own. The course labels those differences and does not rule between them. Lesson 5 compares the churches side by side, Lessons 7, 8, and 10 do the same for praying for the dead, anointing the sick, and leading the intercessions, and Lesson 3 explains how a lay person closes a prayer in churches that keep the final blessing for a priest.
Church documents quoted in the course
- CatholicGeneral Instruction of the Roman Missal; General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours; the Council of Trent on the anointing of the sick (1551); A Manual of Prayers (1888)
- OrthodoxIsabel Hapgood’s Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church (1906)
- AnglicanThe Book of Common Prayer (the American edition of 1928)
- LutheranLuther’s Small Catechism (1529); the Common Service Book (1917)
- Reformed and PresbyterianThe Westminster Assembly’s Directory for the Publick Worship of God (1645); the Book of Common Worship (1906)
- MethodistJohn Wesley’s Sunday Service of the Methodists (1784)
- Baptist, Pentecostal, and non-denominationalMany have no prayer book; Lesson 5 describes how they pray.
Where the teaching comes from.
Bible passages are quoted from the World English Bible, and every other quotation links to its source at the end of the Lesson. Among the writers you will read:
Justin Martyr
A Christian teacher in Rome who, around 155, described for the emperor what Christians did on Sunday, including how their prayers were led.
The Didache
A short church handbook from the late first or early second century. It gives set prayers for the Lord’s Supper, then tells the church to “permit the prophets to make Thanksgiving as much as they desire.”
Tertullian
A Christian writer in Carthage who, around 200, described Christians meeting to read Scripture and pray, and opening and closing their shared meal with prayer.
Augustine
The bishop of Hippo, who in 412 wrote a long letter on prayer to a woman named Proba and passed on what he had heard of the “very brief” prayers of the Christians in Egypt. He also wrote of the psalm his household sang when his mother, Monica, died, and of a sick man he knelt beside in Carthage.
Simon Bening’s book of hours, painted in Bruges about 1530–35, with two of the course’s printable cards. The flowers at the foot of each card come from a page of the same book. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain.
Psalm 51:15
“Lord, open my lips. My mouth will declare your praise.”
Books of hours were prayer books made for people who were not clergy. This one was painted in Bruges about 1530, and its pages are 5.9 centimetres tall. Its morning prayers begin with that verse, and the flowers at the foot of the course’s cards come from its pages.
- Ten Lessons, about two and a quarter hours in all
- Eighty-four prayers to read word for word, by occasion
- Printable cards for a pocket and a lectern
- A one-page method for a prayer in under a minute
$99
paid once, and the course is yours to keep.
Members pay $89.10.
Full refund within 30 days of paying. Checkout runs on Stripe, with your email address and card.
Already have an account? Log in first, so the course is added to it and Members get their price.
Questions and answers.
Can I read some of it first?
Yes. Lesson 1 is free to read, with no account and no payment. It teaches the four-line shape the other Lessons build on.
How much does it cost?
$99, paid once. There is no subscription, and the course stays in your account. Christian Pure Members pay $89.10 if they log in before they buy.
How do I pay?
On Stripe’s checkout page, with your email address and card. Stripe handles the payment, and Christian Pure never sees your card number.
Do I need an account first?
No. After you pay, we make an account from the email address you gave Stripe and sign you in when you come back to the course page. We also email you a link to set a password, so you can log in on any other device. If you already have a Christian Pure account, for another course or a membership, log in before you buy so the course is added to it.
What emails will I get?
Three emails about the course over its first week, and our Sunday Letter each week, with a short letter, a prayer, and a few good things to read. Every email has an unsubscribe link.
What happens to my email address?
We use it for your account and to send those emails. Stripe keeps it with your payment, Kit, the company that sends our emails, stores it, and our privacy policy explains the rest.
What if it is not what I needed?
Write to us within 30 days and we will refund you in full.
Can I read the prayers word for word?
Yes. The eighty-four prayers are written to be read aloud as they stand, and so are the example prayers in the Lessons.
What if I freeze or start to cry?
Lesson 6 answers that. Stop, breathe, and say, “Lord, you know what we need.” Paul wrote that the Spirit “makes intercession for us” when “we don’t know how to pray as we ought.”
Does this replace what my church teaches?
No. Churches differ over who may pray what, and the course keeps sending you back to your own. Lesson 5 ends by asking you to put one question to your pastor or priest: “If I were asked to pray at a funeral or a wedding here, what would you want me to do?”
How long does it take?
About two and a quarter hours in all, in ten Lessons of twelve to fifteen minutes each. You can read them in one sitting or one a day.
Praying Out Loud
Around the year 155, Justin wrote that the one leading prayer at a Christian Sunday service “offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen.”
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