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Summary
- Ten short prayers for a group to say together cover opening and closing a gathering, a divided community, newcomers, listening, differences, shared gifts, friendship, sharing and the town where the group lives.
- The Didache, a church manual most scholars date before AD 100, prays that the Church be “gathered together from the ends of the earth” as scattered grain becomes one loaf.
- Traditional prayers are quoted from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer (“For the Unity of God’s People” and the Prayer of St. Chrysostom) and the 1888 Catholic Manual of Prayers (“For the Preservation of Concord in a Congregation”).
- The General Instruction of the Roman Missal lists “For the local community” among the four usual intentions of the prayers of intercession (paragraph 70).
- Acts 2:42–46, John 17:21, 1 Corinthians 12:26, Hebrews 10:25 and Psalm 133:1 describe Christians praying and living together.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Psalm 133:1; Ecclesiastes 4:10; Jeremiah 29:7; Matthew 18:20; John 17:21; Acts 2:42–46; Romans 12:15; 15:7; 1 Corinthians 12:26; Galatians 3:28; 6:2; Colossians 3:14; Hebrews 10:25; 1 Peter 4:10). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- The Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, chapter 9. Translated by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 7 (1886). https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/didache-roberts.html
- Chapman, John. “Didache.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04779a.htm
- The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Standard Book of 1928. Morning Prayer, “A Prayer of St. Chrysostom,” p. 20; Prayers, “For the Unity of God’s People,” pp. 37–38. PDF facsimile: https://www.artisticdailyprayers.org/uploads/3/0/1/6/30164961/bcp1928std.pdf
- A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity, prepared and published by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1888. Occasional Prayers, “For the Preservation of Concord in a Congregation,” p. 166. https://archive.org/details/AManualOfPrayers1888
- General Instruction of the Roman Missal (2002), paragraphs 69–71. Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20030317_ordinamento-messale_en.html
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