Prayers in this series:
Life, Strength, The Church, Temptation, Gifts, Contentment
This prayer is part of a series of prayers influenced by the Hebrew dayenu prayer. A dayenu prayer is part of the traditional Jewish celebration of the Passover. "דַּיֵּנוּ/Dayenu" is Hebrew for "it would have been enough." The traditional dayenu prayer remembers God's miraculous deliverance of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt, recognizing that each step along the way of that deliverance would have been enough, even if God didn't bring them all the way to the promised land.
These prayers are meant to help us submit to the will of God, recognizing that anything God does for us is more than enough. As you pray, you might not always completely agree with the statement you are reading. Allow the prayer to bring you to a deeper level of surrender. Let God stretch your ability to submit more completely to his will. Whatever God does through these prayers, you can know, it's enough.
A Dayenu Prayer—The Church
Jesus, we thank you for making us part of your body,
the Church, the family of God.
We thank you for binding us together
through the Spirit in the communion of saints.
We thank you for our brothers and sisters
here at [insert name of church].
And if our only connection to [insert name of church]
was through your Spirit,
if we were never able to interact personally
with the rest of the members of our church family…
It would be enough.
And if we were able to connect only once in a while,
through notes and visits, through online worship,
and the rest of the time we connected through prayer,
in your Spirit…
It would be enough.
And if we were able to be together in person with the church family,
but our family didn’t always act like the body of Christ in the world,
still, if you remind us and assure us that you are the head of the Church,
that you gave yourself up to make us holy…
It would be enough.
And if our church acted like the Body of Christ,
but we remember with sadness the church of our childhood,
when churches were full of young families with children,
and worship was a normal part of life for most people...
if we mourn the past but we can see the future,
that your Church is immortal, it cannot die…
if the life of the church comes from you
and not from the people who make up the church…
It would be enough.
And if the church sometimes looks small and weak,
if it feels like our church family is growing older and smaller,
but we know that when we are weak then you are strong,
that we are enough because you are enough.
You are the light of the world,
which makes us the light of the world …
And that’s enough.
—Gary Brouwers © 2026 ReformedWorship.org, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
