This simple prayer is for the hours before a holiday gathering, when the house is full of people you love and also full of noise, expectations and old tensions. Pray it in the kitchen, in the car on the way over, or quietly at the door before you knock. You can read it aloud exactly as written, or use it as a starting point and put your own names and worries into it.
Simple Prayer for a Holiday Gathering
Lord, thank you for this day and for the people you have placed around this table. Some of them I am glad to see, and some of them I am nervous about. Some are grieving a person who is not here this year, and some are carrying a hard season they have not told anyone about. Help me see each of them the way you do, and help me not to measure them by old arguments or by how they treated me last time.
Give me patience when the conversation gets sharp, and words that build up rather than cut. Keep my hands busy with the dishes and the chairs so my heart has room to notice who needs a kind word. If I am tired, give me rest; if I am anxious about the food, the schedule or whether everyone will get along, take those worries from me and set them down with you. Let this gathering be warm enough that people feel they belong, and let me be someone who makes room for others to be themselves.
Bless the food we share and the hands that prepared it. Bless the children who will laugh too loudly and the older ones who will quietly want to be remembered. Let thankfulness rise up in us before the meal begins, and let us leave the table knowing we were together in your presence. Amen.
A Shorter Version to Pray in a Moment
Father, I am walking into a room full of family and I feel the tension already. Calm me down and fill me with love for the people I am about to see. Help me listen more than I speak, and help me remember that you are with us here. Let this be a good meal and a good evening for everyone at the table. Amen.
Scriptures to Pray Alongside
Psalm 133:1
See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity!
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Pray this verse as you look around the table at people who do not always agree. Ask God to let the unity he values be real in your family, even if it looks different than you hoped.
Colossians 3:12-14
12 Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do. 14 Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection.
(WEB)
Read this slowly before you arrive and ask God to clothe you with compassion and patience. Name the specific relatives you find hardest to be gentle with, and ask for the grace to bear with them.
Romans 12:18
If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men.
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Pray this when you feel the pull toward an argument. Ask for the wisdom to do your own part in keeping the peace, and to leave the outcome in God’s hands.
Philippians 4:6-7
6 In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.
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Use this verse when the planning and the people feel like too much. Bring each worry to God in prayer and ask him to guard your heart while you host or attend.
Ecclesiastes 3:4
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance…
(WEB)
Pray this for those at the table who are grieving or whose hearts are heavy this season. Ask God to make room for tears as well as laughter, and to be near to anyone who feels the absence of someone they loved.
How to Pray This Prayer
Try praying the full version in the quiet minutes before guests arrive, while you are standing at the sink or sitting in the car with the engine off. If you are hosting, you might pray it once for each room you prepare. If you are traveling, it works well in the driveway before you go inside. Keep your hands occupied with something simple, like folding napkins or holding a dish, so that the words have a place to settle.
If you are praying with someone else, such as a spouse, a sibling or a friend who is coming along, let each of you pray one paragraph in turn. Ask them to name one person at the gathering they are hoping to bless, and then pray for that person together. Ending the time by thanking God for each other often makes the rest of the evening feel lighter.
A Blessing to Close
May the Lord go before you into this gathering and walk with you through every conversation. May he give your family a measure of peace that the noise cannot take away, and may each person at the table leave feeling seen, welcomed and loved.
