Grace and Gratitude at the Lord’s Table

A Reflection on the Prayer After Communion in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer (often called the “Prayer of Oblation”)

Few prayers capture the heartbeat of the gospel more clearly than this one. Tucked into the Communion service of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, this “Prayer After Communion” (often called the Prayer of Oblation) draws us into the gospel logic of grace and gratitude, and lifts us into the eternal praise of the Triune God.

• This is a gospel-shaped prayer: grace first, gratitude second.
• It is Trinitarian in structure: to the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit.
• And it calls us to live Eucharistically — lives of grateful self-offering in response to God’s mercy.

The Prayer After Communion (1662 Book of Common Prayer)

O Lord and heavenly Father, we your humble servants earnestly ask that in your fatherly goodness you would mercifully accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.

We most humbly ask you to grant that, by the merits and death of your Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his blood, we and your whole church may receive the forgiveness of our sins, and all the other benefits of his passion.

And here we offer and present to you, O Lord, ourselves—our souls and bodies—to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice to you. We humbly ask that all of us who share in this holy communion may be filled with your grace and heavenly blessing.

And although, because of our many sins, we are unworthy to offer you any sacrifice, yet we ask you to accept this, our grateful service in response to your grace—not looking at our merits, but pardoning our offenses—through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Through him, and with him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory be to you, O almighty Father, forever and ever. Amen.

The Gospel Movement of the Prayer

1. Thanksgiving and Sacrifice of Praise

The prayer begins with an appeal to God’s fatherly goodness, asking Him to accept the people’s sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. This frames the Eucharist not as a new propitiatory sacrifice of Christ, but as a response to Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice—a eucharistic thanksgiving.

2. Christ’s Merits and Faith in His Blood

The petition then grounds assurance in the merits and death of Jesus Christ, emphasizing faith in His blood as the means by which the Church receives forgiveness and all the benefits of His passion. Here is pure Reformation theology: forgiveness rests in Christ alone, not in human effort.

3. Offering of Ourselves

Flowing from redemption, worshipers offer themselves—“souls and bodies”—as a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice. This offering is not to produce sanctification, but to express gratitude for it. As Romans 12:1 reminds us, it is only “in view of God’s mercies” that believers can offer themselves wholly to God. Our offering is the gospel-driven response of gratitude, not an attempt to add to Christ’s work.

4. Grace in Communion

The prayer asks that those who share in the sacrament be filled with grace and blessing, underlining the Supper as a means of grace. Communion is not bare memorialism but a Spirit-wrought participation in Christ’s benefits.

5. Humility and Dependence

Even as we offer ourselves, we confess unworthiness: “because of our many sins, we are unworthy to offer you any sacrifice.” Yet God accepts our “grateful service in response to your grace.” The accent remains on divine mercy, not human merit.

6. Trinitarian Doxology

The prayer concludes with a soaring doxology: through Christ, in the Spirit, to the Father, be all honor and glory forever. The prayer ends where true worship must—praising the Triune God.

This prayer beautifully embodies the logic of the gospel of grace and gratitude: grace first, gratitude second. It keeps Christ at the center, humbles the sinner, assures the Church, and gathers God’s people into the eternal praise of the Triune God:

“Through him, and with him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory be to you, O almighty Father, forever and ever. Amen.”