Beginning December 1, 2024, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) and the Moravian Church in Canada (MOR) will have a joint cycle of prayer with recommended petitions for use each Sunday throughout the 2025 calendar year.
Previously operating as a joint liturgy for use between Lutherans and Anglicans in Canada – the Anglican-Lutheran Cycle of Prayer – this new venture was prepared by the Lutheran-Anglican-Moravian Commission following the new full communion partnership between Lutherans, Anglicans and Moravians at the 2024 Special Convention this past July.
“Among Lutherans, Anglicans and Moravians in Canada, we have three similar but different churches, including the ways we worship and pray,” said ELCIC assistant to the bishop Rev. Paul Gehrs, who helped assemble the document. “The Lutheran-Anglican-Moravian Full Communion Prayer Cycle is a way of praying for each other. It is also a way of getting to know each other: where we’re present in Canada, who provides leadership for God’s mission, and some of the moments that shape identity. It also serves as a reminder that the diversity of ways to pray is a gift.”
Although prologued as an ‘experiment’ due to variations in how the worldly call for prayer is lived out within the three denominations, the nine-page document provides prayer direction and leadership for Lutherans, Anglicans and Moravians for each of the 52 Sundays in 2025. It officially begins with Advent 1 on December 1, 2024 and runs through the Reign of Christ on December 23, 2025.
“The Moravian Church is a little different from what some Lutherans and Anglicans are used to,” said Rev. Dr. Betsy Miller, who serves as the ecumenical officer for the Northern Province of the Moravian Church.
“The way our worship services are held, we don’t typically have prescribed prayers to which we are praying for our presiding bishop. But this new prayer cycle is a lovely witness of what it means to be in full communion: praying with and for one another. And that’s the most exciting part about this is for me, just knowing that we will be prayed for by some Lutherans and Anglicans for whom this is a normal part of their worship life.”
The Lutheran-Anglican-Moravian Full Communion Cycle of Prayer can be found here.
