Prayer XCVIII

O Lord, from Whom cometh the preparation of the heart, and from Whom cometh the answer of peace, help us to direct our thoughts and our desire to Thyself, and to look up in faithful acceptance that Thou wilt hear. Thou hast heard. Thou art the same yesterday and to-day and for ever, and Thou hast won for Thyself the name of the God that heareth. We beseech Thee to hear us. We come laden with many burdens, some of us with sorrows, all of us with cares, duties, and sins. And we all need the one help, though we need it in manifold ways, according to our present necessities and our diverse characters. But give to us that manifold grace of Thine which takes all shapes according to our needs, and is ever of the right sort and sufficient measure.

We thank Thee that the light of Thy presence is enough for direction, for strength, for everything. Help us, then, that we may not, as we so often have done, cast away the blessing of Thy presence, and shut up our hearts against Thee. May no indulged and unknown evil part us from Thee. And teach us our faults; we need to learn them more clearly and to feel them more deeply, that we may fight against them more resolutely. We pray Thee to give us this light, though often it be a light that pains; we thank Thee it is always a light that would heal. Reveal to us our thoughts then, we pray, and keep us back from the sins that, though we know them, we may yet run into. And may we be impelled more and more to all righteousness and holiness, all nobleness and goodness of life and character. When we are wisest we feel most certainly that we are here that we may grow more like Thyself. And whilst we acknowledge how little we have used circumstances and providences and opportunities in order to increase in the knowledge of, and likeness to, Thee, and pray that Thy pardon may be granted to us for all that has been amiss, may we in time to come learn better, and feel more deeply, the solemn issues connected with our fleeting days; and may strive, in and through them, to obtain a more assured possession of the inward good that can never be taken away from us.

We thank Thee for all the associations and memories of this day and of this place. We thank Thee most chiefly for the most sacred of all remembrances, the rising of our Lord and Saviour; and we pray that that Resurrection may not only be for us the pledge of our own immortality, but that it may be the Pattern whereunto our present lives are conformed, so that we may indeed be risen with Christ; and even whilst we labour here on earth in the diligent discharge of our duties in connection with the fleeting things in time, may be ’ sitting at the right hand of God,’ with Him in the heavenly places.

We beseech Thee for Thy blessing and the power of Thy Spirit to rest upon us in our gathering this morning. We thank Thee for the opportunity of uniting together thus, to strengthen one another, as we hope. Our many feeblenesses brought together may minister somewhat more of strength to each of us, because Thou art present not only with the solitary souls that seek thy face hiddenly, but with the gathered assembly of Thy people who with one accord call down Thy blessings upon their heads. May that * one accord ’ be felt by us this morning, and may we here realise that it is no vain thing to call upon the Lord, and that our gathering together is for the better, not for the worse.

Receive our thanks for all Thy blessings towards us. Help us to be more observant of these things, that we may understand better the loving-kindness of the Lord. May our faith not stumble on blessings that come to us in the disguise of sorrows. They are Thy angels, though their faces be dark. Teach us to understand the meaning of all Thy dealings with us, and so to influence our thoughts and our hearts now, and always, as that we may be able to bless Thee truly and honestly for the way by which Thou hast led us, though sometimes it has been in rough and stormy places, and sometimes through the very valley of the shadow of death. We beseech Thee to accept us now, to forgive all our evil, to grant us Thy gracious and quickening and perfecting help and presence, through Jesus Christ our Saviour-Lord.