Composing Prayer
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A collect is a form of prayer that is used quite often in liturgies, especially for openings and closings or to mark transition points in a liturgy. It is a very useful and versatile type of prayer and not usually difficult to compose.

Here is one structure or “formula” you might consider using to help you compose such prayers for your liturgies.

Part	Example	Interpretation
Invitation	Let us pray ....	As spoken by the presider, the beginning of the prayer service should be clear.
Period of Silence		If the presider is inviting the people to pray, time must be given for them to do just that.
Invocation or address	God of creation ...	It is often useful to identify God in terms of what is to follow.
Basis	... you have blessed us with the beauty of our world ...	Makes it clear why we are able to invoke God in this manner; it is a statement about God that gives us a reason to call for God’s aid.
Petition	Increase our sense of stewardship for your precious gift ...	Often this will identify a theme that runs through the entire prayer service and is at once a statement of faith in God.
Result	... so that all peoples may be blessed through its bounty ...	Clarifies our awareness of why we are praying in the first place.
Ending	we make this prayer in the name of Jesus, our brother and Lord ...                      OR We make this prayer in the name of Jesus, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever	The ending of the prayer should be clear. Traditionally refers to the fact that we pray through Jesus and in his name; may use a Trinitarian formula.
Response	Amen.	Here the voice of the assembly clearly signals the end of the prayer and may signal the movement to the next part of the liturgy.

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