A New Prayer Book Gathers Christian Prayers for Young People
Where Can We Find Peace in a Noisy and Uncertain World?
Where can we look for peace amid all the noise and uncertainty? The Finnish Bible Society’s The Little Great Prayer Book takes this question seriously. The book gathers prayers from across the long journey of Christianity up to the present day. It will be distributed to confirmation school students and youth leaders in 2026, and congregations were able to order copies free of charge during the past year. At present, the book is available only in Finnish.
In the foreword, prayer is described as a revolutionary act. Prayer stands in protest against everything that is destructive and misleading. Prayer does not always change circumstances, but it can change the one who prays: it is a moment of quiet in a world filled with shouting. The prayer book invites readers to pause in the midst of busyness and to seek peace in prayer when storms rage either within or around them.
The Little Great Prayer Book is published in honor of the 750th anniversary of culture, education, and governance. The book has been published and edited by the Finnish Bible Society and funded by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland’s Church Council.
Sonja’s Prayer Began in a Hospital
The Little Great Prayer Book is built on both tradition and the present moment. It includes prayers from the Bible, from early Christians, and from believers throughout the centuries—as well as from young people today. The contributions from young writers have been edited as little as possible so that their authentic voices can be heard.
One of the contributors, Sonja Vainonen, speaks about prayer without avoiding life’s hardships.
“I may be a timid and even fearful person, but prayer brings comfort, strength, and peace. I cannot remember ever ending a prayer more restless than when I began,” Sonja says.
Although evening prayers had been familiar to Sonja since childhood, her first personal prayer did not arise at home but in a hospital. A rare lung disease had reduced her life to fear, and her own strength ran out.
“On the ventilator, I could think of nothing else but to ask God for help. It was a cry for help—and it helped. I think that I have not endured on my own; Jesus has endured for me. He has carried me when I could not carry myself.”
Words for Prayer
The Little Great Prayer Book offers ready-made words for prayer—words that have sustained generations before us. Alongside her own spontaneous prayers, Sonja turns to traditional prayers such as the Lord’s Prayer. She also finds prayers rising from Scripture. In particular, she is moved by Psalm 4 and its promise of living in safety.
“Life is not in our own hands, nor even always in the hands of doctors. Protection rests in a greater power,” Sonja reflects.
She also draws encouragement from the Gospel story in which the disciples wake Jesus during a storm. “There are no poetic phrases there—just a direct cry: ‘Help, we are perishing!’ Prayer is not about performance or posture. It is a cry for help in the middle of a situation: listen! And God does listen and help.”
The prayer book reminds its readers that prayer is not always a set of words ending with “Amen.” Rather, “life itself is a conversation with God.” Sonja is inspired by different forms of prayer:
“Sometimes prayer is silence. It is listening—that’s what it is! Singing is also one of my strongest languages of prayer; singing frees me from the pressure to perform.”
The Little Great Prayer Book may be small in size, but it carries a great heritage: a prayer that can begin with a single word—or even a sigh.