Prayers for anxiety

Prayers for fear, worry, and the racing mind.

Anxiety is one of the oldest themes in Christian prayer. The Psalms are filled with it. The collects of the Book of Common Prayer were written for a population that lived with constant uncertainty. The contemplative tradition built its entire practice around the calming of an agitated mind. The prayers gathered here are the tradition's specific responses to fear and worry: prayers of trust, prayers of casting cares onto God, prayers for the protection that does not always come but is always asked for. Some are seconds long. Some are longer. None pretends the anxiety isn't real.