Prayer For School Program
(a modern school prayer from www.lords-prayer-words.com) read more prayers for school children here, including prayers before and after class, and creative ideas for including prayer in the classroom.
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Opening Prayer for a Baccalaureate Service
May grace and peace be ours in abundance this [day/night], as we celebrate the lives and the accomplishments of the [Institution Name] graduating class of [year]. This is an occasion to praise God, to listen to God's word, to hear the stories of these students' days on campus, and to pray for them as they finish this part of their journey and begin new adventures. As the people of God have always done, we bring our emotions and our wishes to the Almighty Creator who made us and loves us. Let us then turn to God in prayer.
The Lord Almighty called the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you';
We thank you, Creator God, for the lives of these students, each known and loved even before they were born. We praise you that they were consecrated by you to purposes we could not imagine so many years ago.
Opening Prayer For Children's Sunday
God created all people in the image of the Divine, in the image of God women and men were made by God's own hand.
We recognize these students as your children, bearing your image. Their compassion and their creativity mark them as men and women of God, sharing their Creator's likeness.
The philosopher reminds us that for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.
We thank you that you have brought us to this day of rejoicing: a day to remember their journey, a day to pause and look both to the past and to the future.
Mordecai saw God's potential in his adopted daughter and told her, 'Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.'
We know that you have great things in store for each student. We cannot imagine the futures to which you are calling them, but we are confident in your ability to use every gift in your own time and for the purposes of your Kingdom.
God instructed the Israelites to share the story of their salvation, saying, 'It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.' Their celebration served as a sign on the hand and as a reminder on the forehead, so that the teaching of the Lord may be on every lip; for with a strong hand the Lord brought them out of Egypt.
Let this baccalaureate remind us of your strength, O God, in bringing these people of faith through trial and difficulty. Let it be a sign of your eternal goodness and our unending gratitude.
Jesus told his disciples, 'If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life?'
From this day forward, loving Lord, we ask that you strengthen each one here to follow you, in whatever path may best serve you. Guide these men and women as they seek to find their lives by losing them in you.
Merciful and gracious God, hear our prayers for these your children, and may this time of remembrance be a blessing to each one here. All this we pray in the name of the Christ, our hope and our Savior. Amen.
Dr. Heather Josselyn-Cranson is the Director of Music Ministries at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa.
Please also see Graduation & Baccalaureate Resources.