Although the presence of the Lord is always with the people of God, worshipers may especially focus on the divine presence through a prayer of invocation. The invocation is based on scriptural models for “calling upon the Lord” and celebrating the dwelling of God with the covenant people.
The English word invocation is based on a Latin expression meaning to “call toward” or “call upon.” An invocation may be included in the acts of entrance, as the congregation calls upon the Lord to meet with his people and to manifest his presence in the worship to follow. Invocations are used at other points in the liturgy as well; the preacher may call upon God to assist him or her in proclaiming the Word, and at the Lord’s Table the Holy Spirit may be invoked upon the people (epiklēsis, the Greek equivalent of “invocation”).
References to invocation occur frequently in Scripture, especially in Psalms; examples are the opening of Psalm 105, “Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done” (Ps. 105:1) or the worshiper’s vow in Psalm 116: “To thee I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and call upon the name of the Lord” (Ps. 116:17 nasb). The expressions “call upon the name of the Lord” (Gen. 4:26; 21:33; 26:25; Pss. 80:18; 99:6; 116:4, 13; Joel 2:32; Zeph. 3:9) and “call upon the Lord” (1 Kings 18:24; Pss. 17:6; 18:3; 53:4; 55:16; 88:9; 91:15; 145:18) are biblical synonyms for prayer and worship, indicating that the first act of the worshiper was to invoke the name of Yahweh.
From the New Testament perspective, the Lord is always present with his people. The worshiping church is the “temple” or dwelling of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21–22), the New Jerusalem in which God dwells with his partners in the new covenant (Rev. 21:1–3; cf. Heb. 12:22–23). While there is no need to “call” a God who is already present, an invocation is helpful in preparing the worshiper to receive the signs of God’s action in the celebration that follows and to “recognize the body” (1 Cor. 11:29) of the Lord’s faithful ones, not only in the Lord’s Supper but in every corporate act of worship.
Traditional worship, especially in liturgical churches, may use invocations in the form of the collect, or summary prayer. A classic prayer often used as an invocation (although it is really a prayer for a purification of the worshiper’s approach to God) is the following from the The Book of Common Prayer:
Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Another traditional prayer that is more properly an invocation is the following, appropriate especially for the season of Epiphany:
Almighty God, we invoke thee, the fountain of everlasting light, and entreat thee to send forth thy truth into our hearts, and to pour upon us the glory of thy brightness; through Christ our Lord. Amen.