40 1 PRAYERS, THANKSGIVINGS AND COLLECTS O Thou, who hast neither dawn nor evening, yet sendest us the alternate mercies of the darkness and the day: as thou liftest the curtain of night from our abodes, take also the veil from all our hearts. Rise with thy morning upon our souls; quicken all our labor and our prayer; and, though all else decline, let the noontide of thy grace and peace remain. May we walk, while it is yet day, in the steps of him who with fewest hours finished thy divine work. And unto thee, whose we are and whom we serve, will we render praise now and for evermore. Amen. EVENING PRAYERS AND COLLECTS Almighty Father and keeper of our souls, who alone makest us to dwell in safety: refresh with quiet sleep this night those who are wearied with the labors of the day; and mercifully protect from harm all who put their trust in thee, that, lying down in peace to take our rest, we may fear no evil, but confidently give ourselves into thy holy keeping. Amen. O God, the Father of lights, in whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning, from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift: help us so to live in thy peace that even the night shall be light about us. O thou who dost neither slumber nor sleep, and who givest thine angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways, send out thy light and thy truth, till all men shall see thy glory, and the whole earth be full of the knowledge of God. Amen. O God, who givest us these quiet ours of holy thought and prayer: we thank thee for the rest which thou hast granted us, and the peace which thou hast breathed into our souls this day. As the shadows of evening gather, we commend our spirits to thy care. And when the morning calls us forth again to serve thee, may thy love renew the blessing which we have sought to-day. So in new strength for toil, and a holier spirit of devotion to thy will, may we receive thy merciful answer to our prayers. Amen. O Lord God, the day is thine, the night also is thine. The darkness and the light are both alike to thee. Protect us through the hours of sleep, that our rest may refresh us in body and mind. Soothe our troubled troubled thoughts, and breathe thy peace into our restless hearts. May thy invisible presence watch over us, and in the light of a new day may we rise to bless thee for thy sheltering care. Amen. We beseech thee, Lord, to behold us with favor, folk of many families and nations gathered together in the peace of this roof, weak men and women subsisting under the covert of thy patience. Be patient still; suffer us yet a while longer with our broken purposes of good, with our idle endeavors against evil, suffer us a while longer to endure and (if it may be) help us to do better. Bless to us our extraordinary mercies; if the day come when these must be taken, brace us to play the man under affliction. Be with our friends, be with ourselves. Go with each of us to rest; if any awake, temper to them the dark hours of watching; and when the day returns, return to us, our sun PRAYERS, THANKSGIVINGS AND COLLECTS and comforter, and call us up with morning faces and with morning hearts, eager to labor, eager to be happy if happiness shall be our portion, and if the day be marked for sorrow, strong to endure it. Amen. FOR THE NEW YEAR O thou who art from everlasting to everlasting, without beginning or end of days: replenish us with heavenly grace, at the beginning of this year, that we may be enabled to accept all its duties, to perform all its labors, to welcome all its mercies, to meet all its trials, and to advance through all it holds in store for us, with cheerful courage and a constant mind. O Lord, suffer us not to be separated from thee, either by joy or sorrow, or any sin or weakness of our own; but have compassion upon us, and forgive us, and keep us in the strong confidence of thine eternal love. Amen. FOR THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR Lord, thou hast been our dwellingplace in all generations. Unto thee do we lift up our souls. Thy mercy endureth for ever, and thy compassions fail not. As we keep holy time under the deepening shadows of the closing year, we thank thee for all that it hath brought to us of mercy and truth. Let not the experiences of our past days be lost upon us. Fix in our minds every lesson of faith and duty which thou hast been teaching us. Take from our hearts every veil that would hide from us the shining of the heavenly light. Grant unto us, before the record of this year has been finished and sealed, a fresh 41 consecration, a very honest and deep desire to live according to thy will. Amen. FOR PALM SUNDAY Almighty God, who knowest the weaknesses which we are slow to confess even to ourselves: take from us, we pray thee, the faithless mind that would shrink from the way by which thou leadest, and draw back from the harder paths of a dutiful life. As disciples of Christ may we steadfastly set our face to go to our Jerusalem, prepared to meet all the counsels of thy will, and to be obedient even unto death, seeking only for strength to glorify the cross thou layest upon us. Amen. FOR GOOD FRIDAY O God who hast showed us the way of blessedness: thou hast showed us also that the path of duty may lead to the cross, and the reward of faithfulness be a crown of thorns. Oh, give us grace to learn these harder lessons of pain and darkness and affliction. May we take up our cross and follow Christ in the strength of patience and the constancy of faith; and may we have such true fellowship with him in his sorrows that we may know the secret of his strength and peace, and see, even in our darkest hour of trial and anguish, the shining of thine own eternal light. Amen. Eternal Refuge of those who are distressed: grant unto us that in all trouble of this our mortal life we may flee to thy loving-kindness and tender mercy; that so, sheltering ourselves therein, the storms of life may pass over us, and not shake thy peace within us. Whatso 42 PRAYERS, THANKSGIVINGS AND COLLECTS ever this life may bring us, grant that it may never take from us the faith that thou art our Father and that underneath are the everlasting arms. Amen. FOR EASTER O Lord Most High, who art not the God of the dead but of the living: we unite this day in thankful joy in the remembrance of the spirit's triumph over death. We bless thee that out of this dust and out of these mortal conditions thou art striving to raise immortal souls into a diviner fellowship, and to establish them for ever in the heavenly dwelling-places. Amen. Great and gracious Presence, the Life of all that lives: thou sendest forth thy breath and we are created; thou openest thy hand and we are filled with good. To every faith bowed down and every love laid in the grave, thou bringest a new uplifting and a heavenly birth; and to ignorance and weakness and sin thou givest light and strength and the tender healing of forgiveness. Having received such ministry and comforting regard, help us to set our affections on things above, that so we may finally know the riches of that inheritance which thou didst manifest to him whom we remember this day with joy, and with him be deemed worthy of the crown of immortality. Amen. FOR WHITSUNDAY O God, who hast breathed thy holy spirit into the hearts of thy faithful servants, sending them forth in thy might to speak the word and to do the work which has been entrusted to them by thee: send down upon us all, we pray thee, that Spirit of holiness and wisdom and strength. Enlighten our minds that we may know what thou wouldst have us do; strengthen our hands that we may labor steadfastly to the end, and may faint not in thy service. Thou hast bestowed upon us a diversity of gifts; give us all the same spirit, that with one heart and one mind we may glorify thee, speaking the truth in love, and filling our lives with good deeds and faithful affections. In that spirit may we be strong to fight the good fight of faith, to conquer evil, and bear witness to the truth, and help to bring in the kingdom of righteousness and peace. Amen. FOR ALL SAINTS Our heavenly Father, we rejoice in the blessed communion of all thy saints, wherein thou givest us also to have part. We remember before thee all who have departed this life in thy faith and love, and especially those most dear to us. We thank thee for our present fellowship with them, for our common hope, and for the promise of future joy. Oh, let the cloud of witnesses, the innumerable company of those who have gone before and entered into rest, be to us for an example of godly life; and even now may we be refreshed with their joy; that so with patience we may run the race that yet remains before us, and obtain an entrance into thy everlasting kingdom. Amen. FOR ALL SOULS' DAY Infinite Life, Power, Beauty: thine is the wisdom of the saint and seer, PRAYERS, THANKSGIVINGS AND COLLECTS thine the light shining on the eyes of holy prophets, and thine the love that answereth and filleth every prayerful spirit. We bless thee for all the holy souls that reveal thee; for all unknown and lowly people whose daily lives are offerings heroic, sweet, and beautiful to thee; and for thy voice that speaketh within. Oh, may we heed thy call, and rise into the liberty and joy of thy faithful children. Amen. FOR THANKSGIVING DAY O Lord God, Father of mercies, the Fountain of comfort and blessing, who fillest heaven with thy glory, and earth with thy goodness: we offer thee most earnest and humble thanks for the gifts of nature and of grace, the support of every moment, and the comforts of every day. We beseech thee to fill our hearts with thy praise; that our thankfulness to thee may be great as are our needs, and that thy grace may so strengthen our purposes that our lives may be a thank-offering to thee, unto whom we ascribe all honor and glory. Amen. Most merciful God, our Father in heaven, from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift: we give thee most hearty thanks for all thy blessings of nature and of grace; for the power of loving; for everything, whether joy or sorrow, whereby thou hast drawn us nearer to thyself; and for all that thou hast in keeping for them that love thee. Henceforth, even for ever, we would trust thee with our present and our future, our hopes and our fears, for ourselves and for all whom thou hast given 43 us to love. And grant, we beseech thee, that, as thou dost continually pour out thy gifts upon us, we may ever, more and more, abound in thankfulness and in all good works. Amen. Most gracious and loving Father: thou hast opened the hand of thy bounty, to fill our lives with blessing. Thou dost shelter us in the arms of thy mercy; thou providest for us perpetually, and lovest us with an unfailing love. As thou hast laid thine hand upon us in blessing, so fill our hearts with thankfulness, and tune our lips to praise. Grant that what thou hast sown in mercy may spring up in duty; and let thy grace so strengthen our good purposes that we may walk in the light of thy favor, and in the paths of thy commandments, now and for Amen. evermore. FOR CHRISTMAS DAY O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed: sanctify unto us, thee, the rich and holy gift of thine abounding love which is manifest to the world in this glad festival of universal joy. Help us to attain unto the fulness of its blessing, that Christ may be born afresh to us this day, in deeper love and reverence for thee, in nobler sense of human brotherhood, in hunger and thirst after righteousness, in eager longing for the spirit of peace. the passion of his faith and the patience of his love be shared by us this day in quickening consciousness of our eternal sonship to thee, his God and our God, his Father and our Father. Amen. May 44 PRAYERS, THANKSGIVINGS AND COLLECTS Almighty God, whom once the nations worshipped under name of fear, but who hast revealed the glory of thy love in the face of Jesus Christ, and called us to live with thee as children: fill our hearts, as we remember his nativity, with the gladness of this great redemption. We would join in the heavenly song of Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, and good-will toward men. Breathe into our hearts the spirit of Jesus, that we may be led to thee in trust and obedience, and be sent out to live among men in brotherly love and sympathy. Every year, as this joyful festival comes round, may it find the world more and more in harmony with thy will. Amen. IN WINTER O God, who rulest the changing seasons, and fulfillest, in all, thine own unchanging purposes: we bless thee that thou dost clothe all things around us with the beauty of winter, that thou sendest forth the treasures of the snow, and fillest the brief day with thy sunshine, and all night long makest the heavens above us glorious with the countless stars. For all thou givest us thus to enjoy we praise thy goodness, and adore thine unsearchable wisdom and power. Amen. IN SPRINGTIME O thou, whose life-giving energy flows through all things: we rejoice in the glorious revealing of thyself in Nature, in the tokens of thy might and of thy love which we behold on every side. We thank thee for all the bountiful gifts and the gracious promise of this season of brightness and hope, when we trace again the workings of the unseen power which calls forth fresh life and growth, and renews the face of the earth. And while we bless thee for the beauty which thou sheddest around our path, we pray that it may find some reflection in our own hearts and lives. May thy creative spirit freshen and renew our souls, and may the precious seed of thy promises fall into good ground, where it may spring up and bear fruit according to the measure which thou hast appointed. Amen. IN SUMMER O thou, from whom cometh all the gladness and brightness of life: we praise thee for the riches of thy bounty which thou pourest out in these days of summer. Thou fillest the heavens with radiance, and causest the earth to rejoice in the abundance of thy gifts. Thou preparest the coming harvest; and thou makest our hearts glad with the wonder of thy creation. For all the greatness and glory of Nature we bless thee, and we would join with grateful hearts in the song of praise which all the earth raises to thee. Amen. IN AUTUMN We praise thee, O thou Source of all life and strength, for the bountiful provision which thou makest for the wants of thy children. We would bring thee now our joyful thanksgiving for the harvest of the fields, and all the increase that the fertile earth has yielded. Thou hast ordered the course of the changing seasons, and appointed a time for sowing and a time for reaping; and while men |