Commontide
Friday — Evening Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, by your death you took away the sting of death: Grant to us your servants so to follow in faith where you have led the way, that we may at length fall asleep peacefully in you and wake up in your likeness; for your tender mercies’ sake. Amen.
This prayer appears in more than one place in the 2019 Book of Common Prayer.
Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.
This Friday evening collect asks Christ, who by dying defeated death itself, to lead us through the gate of death as he has already gone before, so that we fall asleep in faith and wake in his likeness. Composed for the 1979 Episcopal Church revision of the Book of Common Prayer, it weaves Paul's triumphant cry that death's sting has been drawn (1 Cor 15:55) together with the psalmist's hope of waking satisfied in God's likeness (Ps 17:15).