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Summary
- Short prayers cover a friend going through a hard time, a sick or grieving friend, thanks for a friend, being a better friend, a friend who has moved away, loneliness and a group of friends.
- The 1928 Book of Common Prayer supplies two traditional prayers, “For Those We Love” and “For the Absent”; the 1888 Catholic Manual of Prayers has a prayer “For our Friends,” and the 1906 Presbyterian Book of Common Worship prints nearly the same prayer.
- Paul’s prayer for the Philippians (Philippians 1:9–11) and the opening wish of 3 John 1:2 can be prayed for any friend.
- For a broken friendship, four prayers cover causing the hurt, being hurt, a friend who will not answer and a friendship that has drifted, alongside Matthew 5:24, Proverbs 17:9, Romans 12:18 and Colossians 3:13.
- Job’s friends sat with him in silence for seven days (Job 2:13), and God restored Job “when he prayed for his friends” (Job 42:10), the same friends who had spoken wrongly of God.
- Anyone whose friend talks of ending their life can call or text 988 in the US, or call Samaritans free on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Genesis 31:49, 52; 1 Samuel 18:1, 3; 20:42; Job 2:11, 13; 42:7–8, 10; Proverbs 13:20; 17:9, 17; 18:24; 27:6, 9, 17; Ecclesiastes 4:9–10, 12; Matthew 5:24; John 15:13–14; Romans 12:15, 18; 1 Corinthians 10:31; Galatians 6:2; Ephesians 4:2; Philippians 1:3–4, 9–11; Colossians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:11; James 2:23; 5:16; 3 John 1:1–2). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- English Standard Version, Proverbs 18:24. BibleGateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+18%3A24&version=ESV
- The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Standard Book of 1928. Family Prayer, “For the Absent,” pp. 596–597, and “For Those We Love,” p. 597. https://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/ ; text checked against the standard edition PDF, 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 our Friends,” p. 170. https://archive.org/details/AManualOfPrayers1888
- The Book of Common Worship (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.). Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-school Work, 1906. The Treasury of Prayers, “For Kindred and Friends,” pp. 137–138. https://archive.org/details/bookofcommonwor00pres
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. https://988lifeline.org/
- Samaritans. “Contact Samaritans.” https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/
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