Invocation Prayers: 20 Openings for Church Services and Events

Lord God, you called us here before we thought to come. Now be among us. Open what is closed in us, soften what has gone hard, and speak clearly enough that we cannot mistake your voice for our own. We ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

— Original

Almighty God, your word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. By your Spirit, open the scriptures to us and open us to the scriptures, that we would not merely hear but obey. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

— Original, with Psalm 119:105 (WEB)

Father, we have business to do, and we would like to do it as your church rather than as a committee that prays at the start. Give us patience with each other, honesty about what we want, and the humility to change our minds. Let what we decide here be recognizable as the work of Jesus. Amen.

— Original

Gracious God, for this food, for the hands that prepared it, and for the friendship around these tables, we thank you. Bless what we are about to receive, bless the conversation that goes with it, and make us mindful of those who will not eat tonight. Amen.

— Original

God of every beginning, we give you thanks for these graduates — for the work they have finished and the people who carried them to this day. Go with them into what comes next. Give them courage where the path is unclear, friends who tell them the truth, and work that is worth doing. Amen.

— Original

God of all people, we ask your presence over this gathering. Give wisdom to those who will speak and patience to those who will listen. Grant that the decisions made here would serve the good of this whole community — especially those with the least voice in it. We ask this humbly. Amen.

— Original

Lord of all our days, we stand at the start of a year we cannot see. We bring you what we are carrying out of the old one — the grief, the debt, the hope we had almost given up on. Go before us into January. Be our God in this year as you were in the last. Amen.

— Original

Lord, we are here. Be here too, and let that be enough. Amen.

— Original

God who came near, we have kept this night for you. Quiet the noise we carried in from December. Make the story new for the people hearing it for the fiftieth time, and make it true for the people hearing it for the first. Come to us as you came to Bethlehem: quietly, and all the way in. Amen.

— Original

Living God, the tomb is empty and we have come to say so out loud. Meet us in this hour with the same power that raised your Son. Raise what has died in us. And let no one leave this room today unsure of what we are claiming. Amen.

— Original

Holy Spirit, we cannot organize you and we have stopped trying. Come into this room as you came into that one. Give us fire where we have gone cold and words where we have gone quiet. We are asking, and we mean it. Amen.

— Original

Faithful God, today water and your promise will be joined in front of us. Be present at these waters. Meet the ones being baptized, and remind the rest of us what was said over us on a day some of us cannot remember. Amen.

— Original

God of covenant, we have gathered for a promise. Be present in this room, at this altar, between these two. Give them clear voices and steady hands, and give the rest of us the sense to keep the promises we made when we stood where they are standing. Amen.

— Original

God of the living and the dead, we have come to say a name out loud and to hand it back to you. Be present in this hour with those who are grieving hardest. Make room here for tears and for thanksgiving, and do not let us leave without hope. Amen.

— Original

Lord, we are about to talk about money, buildings, and each other. Keep us honest and keep us kind. Let the quietest person here be heard. And when we disagree, hold us to the fact that we will be singing together on Sunday. Amen.

— Original

God, thank you for this team, this season, and this food. Thank you for what these athletes learned in the losses as well as in the wins. Bless the coaches, the families in the stands, and the ones who worked hard and never got in the game. Amen.

— Original

God, you have never needed a building, and we have never stopped needing one. Bless this room and the work that will happen in it. Let it be warm to strangers. Let it outlive the people who paid for it. And keep us from ever loving it more than the people it is for. Amen.

— Original

Father, there are not many of us and that has never bothered you. Be in this room, in the pauses as well as the talking. Give us honesty, and give us the patience to let each other finish a sentence. Amen.

— Original

God of all nations, we remember today those who did not come home, and the families who have carried that ever since. Be near to them. Give our leaders wisdom, and give our country a longer memory than one generation. And hasten the day when nobody has to learn war again. Amen.

— Original

God of wisdom, these students have finished something, and tonight we would like to say so in your presence. Thank you for teachers who stayed late and for parents who paid attention. Go with this class into everything that comes next, and keep them curious, kind, and unafraid. Amen.

— Original

How long should an invocation be?

Thirty to ninety seconds. If you need three minutes, what you have written is a pastoral prayer, and it belongs later in the service.

Is an invocation the same as an opening prayer?

In most churches, yes, the terms are used interchangeably. In Lutheran practice, "the Invocation" specifically means the trinitarian formula that opens the liturgy, which is narrower.

How do I give an invocation at a non-religious event?

Keep it brief, address God in broadly accessible terms, pray for the people and the purpose of the gathering rather than for their conversion, and choose your closing phrase ahead of time. Most leaders find they can be entirely sincere without being confrontational.