Fosdick Prayers #21-30

We invite you now to listen to a prayer by the late Harry Emerson Faustick, former Minister Emeritus of the Riverside Church. Eternal God, who knowest our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking. We come in the fellowship of prayer to seek light upon our ways and strengthen within our hearts. In all and reverence we bow before Thy greatness which we cannot measure, like creatures of the sea that feel the impulse of the tides not understanding them, so are we amid the majestic movements of Thy providence, like birds upon the wings, should they question the air in which they fly, so are we when we question the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, wherever we flee from Thy spirit, Thou art around us and far beyond us.

Thanks be to thee that Thou art all soul within us. Our eyes have seen beauty, our hearts have felt love, our minds have discovered truth, our wills have found purposes that enable life, and deep in our souls Thou hast been to us like a spring of water, welling up to eternal life, O spirit within as well as without us now an hour of fellowship with thee that shall bring to our souls radiance and insight peace and power. We turn to thee from the perplexities of daily life and pray for relief from disquieting and cowardly fear.

Be wilder by the world's confusion, we lose certitude and stability. We are tempted by petty annoyances and great griefs by despondency and doubt by the angry emotions of our time. Restore to thy servants the sanity and courage we sorely need, and banish our evil by the expulsive power of new faith, new affections and new desires. We pray especially for guidance in a Christlike way of life. The devices of the world entice us, the softestries of the cynical and the inclinations of our own hearts tempt us, and evil solicitations silence our consciences with their subtle persuasion, grant us true penitence and sincere amendment of life, help us to see the right

and to love it, fortify our decision to live with honesty, integrity and unselfishness. We pray for all Christian churches around the world, from the tyranny of old customs and ideals once helpful but now outgrown good Lord deliverance, from stressing the trivial and forgetting the vital, saved Thy people, grant Thy church a new reformation, and may she both proclaim the gospel and live it so that the minds of men may be convinced. Their lives be transformed, their societies be redeemed, open the gates of a new morning before Thy church and grant her fresh hopes of unity, fresh depths of vital faith and

fresh devotion to Thy kingdom's coming. Guide our nation in these difficult days, use our power for Thy purposes of justice and peace, save us from selfish nationalism, save us from our racial prejudice and discrimination, which destroy our influence for good around the world. May our help bring hope to depressed and stricken lands where despotism reign, where the liberty of human souls is stolen from them, where poverty afflicts the people, where the spirit and teaching of Christ are trotten underfoot, strengthen the united nation, and all agencies dedicated to mankind's peace, and grant that our eyes may see the victory of our Lord

Christ Jesus over the enemies of His truth. O God, our words when we pray are but small clubs, dipped from the deep lake of our need, look thou upon our want deeper than our words, and give to each of us according to His need and to the riches of thy grace in Christ, Amen. You have been listening to a prayer by the late Harry Emerson Phosdick, former minister emeritus of the Riverside Church. We invite you now to listen to a prayer by the late Harry Emerson Phosdick, former minister

emeritus of the Riverside Church. Eternal spirit, well of living water, harvest field from which comes the bread of life. We bring to thee our souls, thankful and needy, radiant and cast down, glad and penitent. Could we have lived by temporal bread alone, we had not sought thee. Beneath the needs which earthly things can satisfy is the hunger which thou alone can't meet. Grant us such willing surrender and receptivity that to us may freely come the insight and wisdom, the grace and power, without which no man can fully live. We pray for a courageous faith, our fathers walk through days of tumult when the future

was unsure, so walk we. Give us a creative faith, such that thy spirit in us brooding over chaos may bring order out of it. Grant us inward resources of spiritual power, that we may be not submerged in difficulty, that may rise above it, be superior to it, and carry off a spiritual triumph in the face of it. Make of us radiant, victorious personalities, that shall commend to all the world the faith we profess. We pray for vision. See how the blind lead, the blind and fall into the ditch. Raise up for this people, we beseech thee leaders, who shall see a little way ahead and know what our people ought to do.

In our personal estate, grant us insight that shall make planer the path before us until problems grow less complex and duties more clear. We have come to thee, thou source of light, that we might be children of the light, and not walk in darkness, therefore grant vision to thy servants in her eyes. We pray for eternal horizons, around our daily duties. We grow obsessed with difficulties and tasks near at hand, until our perspectives become narrow, and our horizon shut us in. Lift us up to a far outlook upon the bleak hills that surround some souls today, foot horses and chariots of fire.

Expand our sympathies, overflow our doubts, increase our faith. Lift us to such an altitude that we may go forth from this place new men and new women in a new world. We ask thee for no soft comfort. We request thee not life made easy, but inward fortification, especially we pray for those in perplexity over their practical estate. We cannot live by bread alone, but we cannot live without it, when not for ourselves only, but for our families and friends. The human need is clamorous, canst thou measure our agony? Open the free channels of goodwill among this people, touch our generosity, until like a fountain it shall overflow, grant that even as we pray for those hurt by penuray, we

may have imagination to see them, and unselfishness to assist them. We besiege thee also for those hard pressed by moral temptation, O God, the upward path is very steep for human feet. It is easier to go down than to rise, surround some spirit in thy presence here with thy protective care. Remind us in time that it is easier to prevent evil than to recover from it. Save us from dishonoring our lives, so challenge us with the need of the world that we may contribute to it at least one good life, adventurous for righteousness. So in personal want, in family perplexity, in secret temptation, in earnest desire for

thy kingdom on earth, we commit ourselves to thee in the spirit of Christ, O man. You have been listening to a prayer by the late Harry Emerson Phosdick, former minister emeritus of the Riverside Church. We invite you now to listen to a prayer by the late Harry Emerson Phosdick, former minister emeritus of the Riverside Church. The eternal spirit whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain much less these temples which our hands have builded, but who dwellest in the humble and contrite heart we worship thee. From the violence of the world and the turmoil and confusion of our busy lives, we turn to

thee for an hour of quiet thought, meditation, prayer. Let the roiled waters of our lives settle. After the rapids and water falls of another week, grant our spirits a tranquil pool and then send us out in a fresh direction and on a better course. O Lord, the mystery of life is very deep, we cannot fathom it. The explanation of this vast and varied universe does not lie within the comprehension of our mind. Today, we pray humbly for light enough to walk by, grant us that. Lead us in paths of righteousness for thy name seek. Give us the eyes of faith that can see the way despite life's mystery and the world's discordant noisy.

To that end, lift us above the immediate and set our lives in the wide horizons of abiding verities. Our eyes grow too accustomed to man's ugliness and sin to the world's tumult and disorder. Today remind us of the goodness that is here, of the beauty that our eyes have seen in nature and in human life, a friendliness that has been visited upon us, love that has sustained us, character that has undergirded us, and of thy goodness that has been patient with us. Today put Christ in our remembrance and those strong and radiant lives who have followed in his steps, awaken gratitude in the hearts of some of us who have forgotten to give thanks and around the evil that depresses us, flow great memories, and wide hopes.

Recenter our lives around faith instead of fear, thou seest the justification of our dread, thou put faith in the center, that soul and only conqueror of fear, so that some of us who came in troubled with dark foreboding may go out with strong conviction renewed and faith restored, empowered to overcome. Center our thought not around our strength but thine. Our strength is but little, alone and unated we cannot handle even our own lives well, nor can we pit ourselves against the vast evil of hostile circumstance, only with thy power in us and through us can we be adequate. If we could be strengthened with might by thy spirit in the inner man, then we should

be strong indeed, using even the ills of life to create finer character and a better world. So come thou close to us one by one and minister to our deep need of thee. We lay before thee with solemn intercession the sariest state of our world today, its violence and uproar, its trust in force, its menace of war. O Lord, when shall our eyes see settled peace again? When shall the morning be glad as the sun rises and the evening peaceable? When shall the air be no more laden with threatened battle and death? Beyond our power to see the possibilities we pray for peace, a just and honest peace that will give the world a lasting hope of brotherhood.

Past all those inner barricades that we erect against thy coming, do thou press spirit of the living God to unlock the secret doors in each of us that there may be found no wicked way in us, comfort our sorrows, strengthen us where we are weak, steady our spirits, and send us forth from this place to walk more worthily of the high vocation wherewith we have been called in Christ, especially help any who are in such dire need that we must pray for them because they cannot pray for themselves, forgiveness, inner sustenance, courage in danger, serenity under strain, strength to do what we ought to do, and to stand what we must endure, for such blessings we pray, so that thy refreshment fall in benediction on some spirits here,

and bring them power to overcome the world. In the spirit of Christ we pray, Amen. You have been listening to a prayer by the late Harry Emerson Phosdick, former minister emeritus of the Riverside Church. We invite you now to listen to a prayer by the late Harry Emerson Phosdick, former minister emeritus of the Riverside Church. Eternal spirit grant us grace to worship thee in spirit and in truth. Thou hast so made us that the glory of our lives is not in things below us that we master, not in the divine above us that masters us.

We are elevated by our admiration, we are enriched by our reverence. Grant us an hour of such spiritual wealth, made aware of eternal realities captured by a vision of the Christ-like life, lifted out of our littleness by dedication to abiding values and to thine everlasting purpose. Tends us from our evil, our ugly ego-tism, our indifferent apathy, our mean ambitions, our sinful lusts, that we may be ready for this transforming experience. Grant us honesty in confronting and confessing our sins, sincerity in making restitution where we have wronged others, humility in seeking thy forgiveness and resolution by thy grace and help to amend our lives.

Thou seeest us a generation victorious over the hazards of war but frustrated and confused by the problems of peace. From a dismaying world we come into thy sanctuary. Where we pray for an hour of spiritual insight that with thankful hearts we may see afresh the light, which even this darkness has not been able to put out. For the heritage of the Christian gospel, for all the saints who from their labors rest, for the noble succession of the seers and prophets, for Christ thy son who has given us a kingdom that cannot be shaken, for living friends who renew our faith in goodness and beauty, integrity and love, and for thee, O God, because of whom our human life is not a drifting raft, but a ship with a course, a compass, a captain, and a destination.

We thank thee, Marshall within us in these momentous times such resources of the Spirit, that we may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Minister to our intimate personal needs, Spirit of the living God walk through this congregation now and be the help and comfort, the inspiration and sustenance of our soul, in temptation, in illness, in disappointment and depression, in defeat when we are tempted to give up, and in success when we are tempted to be proud, O God, restore our soul. We hear thy voice speaking to each of us, reassuring us, challenging us, summoning us

to dedicated and victorious living, especially may thy summons be heard by some wavering and uncertain soul, who standing at the crossroads of right and wrong, of Christ and anti-Christ, cannot make up his mind. Although, who has given us this mysterious power of initiative and choice, set our souls on high things, and in this dangerous generation, when for ourselves and our civilization, we must choose life or death, the blessing or the curse. Grant us grace one by one in scorn of consequence, to choose for our devotion things worth living for, and if need be worth dying for. For our nation we pray that it may not miss the

true path amid the world's confusion. For all efforts to create an ordered and peaceful human family, our petitions rise, for our own sakes, for our children sakes, and for Christ's sake, that he may see fulfilled the faith and hope for which he died. And for thy church universal we pray, bind up her dissevered fellowship, and large her thought, her sense of mission and the outreach of her service, that she may so proclaim and practice the gospel of thy son, that thy kingdom may come, and thy will be done on earth. Here now the unspoken prayers that rise in silence from the depths of our hearts, and to those needs that can find no voice, save for thine year alone, minister, according

to the riches of thy grace, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. You have been listening to a prayer by the late Harry Emerson Phosdick, former minister emeritus of the Riverside Church. We invite you now to listen to a prayer by the late Harry Emerson Phosdick, former minister emeritus of the Riverside Church. Oh God from whom come all good things in man and nature, we would sensitively open our spirits to thee this hour, thou art never far from any one of us, and yet in this pavilion of thy worship, we would more intimately find thee and be found of thee. Infinity of grace and goodness lift us up into a new faith in thee

and a new vision of thee, for dark hours come when questions rise concerning thee and doubts throng in. The beauty of nature, its symmetry and order, harmony and color that we see. The virtues of human life on its noblest altitude, integrity and honor, courage and good will that we see. The achievements of man's mind and character, the truth that science seeks, the beauty that art creates. The goodness that high-minded manhood gains that we see. The victories of righteousness where light has risen out of darkness and love has proved stronger than hate that we see. Oh God from whose great reservoir of goodness these streams flow. Make us more certain about thee, until today we too shall say, the

Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid. In this faith lift us up into a new courage. Thou seaest our daily need of fortitude and valor. Save us from soft optimism. Let not sentimentality be guileous. Save us from saying peace, peace when there is no peace. And may we never try to heal deep diseases with easy words. Give us honesty to face hard facts. And yet with it all give us courage, we beseech thee. Thou seaest with what varied needs thy children seek thy face. O thou who does meet us in the solitariness of our own souls, with thy still small voice deal with us one by one. If we have sin, grant us

the grace of sincere penitence and renunciation and cleanse us with thy pardon. If we are in grief, comfort us with the steadfastness of thy strong foundations under us that the storm may not beat us down. If we are in anxiety, clarify our vision and direct our steps. Unstarled some tangled life in this company, we beseech thee. If we are proud, humble us. If we have been humiliated, lift us up and so girded, send us out to be soldiers of the common good. Keep us from selfish living in a dangerous time that cannot survive its follies without public-mindedness. Grant that upon some life here thy hand of high commission may be laid

this day. O God, in a time that cries for leadership, let leaders rise, especially to some young man or woman whose eyes being fresh to the world can see, and whose mind and heart being sensitive to thine approach can feel the need of this time and the way out. May thy commission come. So bring order out of the chaos of our confused thinking and living. Amid practical problems very complicated. Amid questions of right and wrong very confused. Thy children cry for guidance. Let thy word be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. And may some perplexed spirit who has sought thy sanctuary see plainly the right road for his feet to take. Because thou hast brought order out of the confusion

of our inner lives, fit us to be better servants of thine in bringing order to this bewildered world. For the wisdom, courage, and sympathy which mankind deeply needs, we pray. Send us out empowered for ministry. Help us to bring sanity into the madness of this world. May the touch of Christ upon our spirits make us wise enough to make the world a little wiser. Strengthen us to bring new courage to those whose lives moved near our own. An unconquerable faith that despite the bewilderments of this present time, love can conquer hate. Peace rise triumphant over war. Justice proved more powerful than greed. And the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. So grant that as by many

paths we have come to this place of prayer and by paths so various, go forth that only by all seeing eye can trace our divergent ways. Coming in need, we may go in strength to the praise of the name of Christ. Amen. You have been listening to a prayer by the late Harry Emerson Phosdick, former minister emeritus of the Riverside Church. We invite you now to listen to a prayer by the late Harry Emerson Phosdick, former minister emeritus of the Riverside Church. Eternal God before whom sinners cannot stand, we come humbly into thy presence. Out of

the turbulence of the world, our hearts disquieted by its confusion, our lives contaminated by its sin, we come to thee. Give us an hour of insight and cleansing. Grant us grace to be honest with ourselves, sensitive toward our neighbors, reverent toward thee. We dare not come to worship thee without bringing our brother with us. Father of all men who have said that we cannot love thee unless we love our brother also, we would come bringing him with us in our hearts compassion and good will. Before we seek forgiveness, help us to be forgiving. Before we ask for mercy, help us to be merciful. Take from our hearts the hidden grudge, the secret vindictiveness, the lurking hate. Give us a Catholic and

inclusive spirit of sympathy and understanding. From all bigotry and prejudice of race and class delivers, teach us what it means to care even for those who, despitefully, use us. And so abiding in love, may we abide in thee. Though we come with our brother in our sympathy, nonetheless, thou seeest how alone we are. We come from the world where men look on the outward appearance to thee, who does look upon the heart. We ourselves hardly know the secret motives of our own lives. We are so busy in the world that we seldom meet ourselves face to face. Oh God, seek us out now in the inward untrodden recesses of our soul. When we confront our severest troubles, our profoundest temptations, we are solitary.

And when death comes, we die alone. Companion of the companionless, inner source of strength, comfort and fortitude, deep well from which the living waters rise. Be with us today. We bring before thee our anxious concern for the evils of the world. We lift up all nations in our prayer, those whom we call enemies and those whom we call friend. Thou seeest how swift and impetuous our judgments are. We condemn some. We wish well to others. How can we do otherwise? Yet herein in thy sanctuary may we remember the vaster horizons and perspectives of thy grace. Thou seeest the far-flung causes of our human tragedy.

Deep within us all, thou knowest the sins that have caused it. Thou who art no respecter of persons, careest for the victims of man's inhumanity among all peoples, thou hateest tyranny and injustice. In thy purpose stand the welfare of all nations and the fraternity of mankind. Spirit of the highest, keep us from hopelessness and disillusionment. Grant us the courage of our fathers, who in desperate days were undismade, and in the face of many adversaries did not lose their faith. Draw close to any in special trouble here. Some are ill or are burdened for their sick at home. Some have lately laid their dead away and their hearts slighburied

in the sepulcher. Some stand with their backs against the wall in desperate temptation almost overwhelmed. Spirit of God may thy saving grace come to some such souls today. And strength is here, talents unused, powers undeadicated by which thou couldst lift thy church and thy world to a better day. Lay thy hand on the best in us and devote it to thy kingdom's coming. We pray in the spirit of Christ. Amen. You have been listening to a prayer by the late Harry Emerson Phosdick, former minister emeritus of the Riverside Church. We invite you now to listen to a prayer by the late Harry Emerson Phosdick, former minister emeritus of the Riverside Church.

Eternal Spirit so high above us that we cannot comprehend thee, and yet so deep within us that we cannot escape thee, make thyself real to us now. In a shaken world we seek stability. In a noisy world we need inner peace. In a fearful world we want courage. In a world of rising and falling empires, we crave a vision of vine eternal kingdom whose son never said. Seek us out everyone in the special circumstances and needs that each soul faces. Long and old we come, the Mary hearted and the bereaved. Families together here and solitary souls lonely and far from home. Some of us tempted to be proud of the world's prizes. And some crest fallen because of failure. Some strong in body and others striving to keep

the inward man renewed while the outward man perishes. O son of our help and strength, be to us like the sun indeed and shine this morning into every window. While thou dost comfort us, kindle also within us sincere penitents, let some austere word of righteousness be spoken to our consciences today. Save us from our ignoble excuses, our cheap defences, our unworthy self deceits. Give us grace to be honest with ourselves. That we may rightly judge our dealing with the personality thou hast entrusted to us, with the friends and family that surround us, with the opportunities thou hast put before us, and with the stewardship committed to us. We pray for the peace of the world, stay

the evil forces that withstand good will and lay the fuse which will explode another war. For wisdom to seek peace and pursue it. For faith and character to use the right the power man has in his unworthy hand, we pray. To that end, our intercessions rise for the united nation. For all conference is seeking disarmament and peace. For our nation, is president and all who influence its policies. And for us, the whole body of the people that we may prove worthy of the stewardship of opportunity entrusted to us. With thankful yet with burdened hearts we pray for thy church. Across the dividing lines of man's bitterness

today, keep her fellowship real and vital. Beat down in thy mercy the cruel iniquities that in many lands persecute her saints, deny her liberties, destroy her sanctuaries, and even refuse to her the training of the children of her own household. And here, where we have liberty, help us to maintain her strength. Rear our children in her nurture. Seek a fresh to understand her gospel and make real to the ends of the earth the salvation that is in Jesus Christ our Lord. Make this church we beseech thee a loyal servant of thy cause to the ministers, the laymen and lay women of this congregation, grant vision and dedication,

wisdom, generosity and devotion that we hear a company of Christ's disciples may exhibit his spirit further his work and be faithful servants of his kingdom. Now may thy spirit touch us all with some healing wisdom and strength. Kindle our faith, rebuke our infidelities, make sensitive our consciences, dedicate our strength, fortify us in our troubles, and send us out strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen. You have been listening to a prayer by the late Harry Emerson Phosdick, former minister emeritus of the Riverside Church. We invite you now to listen to a prayer by the late Harry Emerson Phosdick, former minister emeritus of the Riverside Church.

Eternal God out of the noisy world and the strife of tongues, we come to this quiet place to worship thee, far from us thou never art, but by the insensitiveness of our own hearts we keep thee distant. In this hour of opportunity grant us the grace of receptiveness that into responsive souls we may welcome thee. Thou art spirit and we would worship thee in spirit and in truth. By many intimations thou hast revealed to us thy reality and living presence in radiant souls through whom thou hast shined upon us. In the order, beauty and wonder of the world, in victories of light over darkness, of goodness over evil, of love over hate, up these overflowing streams from thy fountain head, we press in this hour of worship to

find thee, the fountain head itself. Often have we brought to thee our weaknesses, sins to be forgiven, fears to be allayed, anxieties to be overcome, discouragements to be driven out. Again today with our many wants we come to thee. Dry reservoirs we need thy rain, this cordoned heart we need thy harmony, leafless trees we need the renewal of thy springtime, but above all we pray that thou wilt not simply relieve our weakness but willt lay hold upon our strength. We bring to thee our minds, fallible they are yet rightly used, they could give dignity and meaning to our lives and service to mankind. God forgive us that we so misuse

them. Spirit divine with great work needing to be done in this world, lay hold upon some minds here today that we may think more deeply, proclaim our faith in thee more intelligently, and work more wisely for the enrichment of mankind's life and the coming of thy kingdom. Lay hold upon our courage, we thank thee for the high gift of daring, for all the bravery that human life exhibits we are grateful. Forgive our misuse of this noble power, lay thy hand upon it, may we fight well the good fight for righteousness, for personal character, for social welfare and for mankind's peace. Lay hold upon our good will, forgive us that we use brotherly love so narrowly and poorly, extend its domain we beseech thee and large

its reach over the bitter boundaries that often hem it in, let no mean prejudice in us hold it back, grant us good will toward all sorts and conditions of men of every color, every nation, every creed. Lay hold upon our faith we pray, faith can be the victory that over comes the world, yet see how we put our faith in small, unworthy things, lift our faith on high, may we believe a fresh in thee, in the eternal purpose which thou didst purpose in Christ, in the infinite value of the human soul and in thy coming kingdom. Oh, God so often we have come to thee presenting our feebleness, today we come presenting such

strength as is ours, take it and use it as thy graving tool, to carve thy will in this world, cross the inner thresholds of our hearts, comfort us in bereavement, steady our spirits in sickness, keep our hearts steadfast in practical distress, let not the anxieties of this world overwhelm us and empowered by thy refreshing companionship send us out to be soldiers of the common good, we pray in the spirit of Christ. Amen. You have been listening to a prayer by the late Harry Emerson Phosdick, former minister emeritus Albert Riverside Church. We invite you now to listen to a prayer by the late

Harry Emerson Phosdick, former minister emeritus Albert Riverside Church. Eternal spirit, thou fountain of all that is excellent and beautiful in human life, once more we turn to thee, unreplenished needing thy renewal, weak needing thy strength, fatigued needing thy rest. We have tried to content ourselves with lesser things, but thou hast set eternity within our hearts. We are restless until we rest in thee. Into thy sanctuary we come with praise upon our lips, yet save us from the ancient sin of casting palm branches before thy Christ at the week's beginning and crucifying

him before the week's end. Give us sincerity, we beseech thee, from the ungenuine lead us to the genuine, from the unreal to the real. O God of grace who are able to strengthen us with thy spirit in the inner man, so deal with us this day that high business may be done for thy cause in our hearts, that we may go from this place of meditation and prayer to be more worthy of our high vocation as thy sons and daughters. Play we beseech thee upon all the cords of our lives. We who so often have placed ourselves at the disposal of the world's fingers to play upon would in this hour come before thee that thy spirit might touch the strings of our hearts. Play upon our gratitude.

If we have held our complaint so close to our eyes that we have lost the far perspectives of thy favor, grant we pray thee for the reward of our worship, wide horizons in this morning hour. Remind us of the homes we came from, of the fathers and mothers who nourished us, of the better aspects of the civilization out of which we have come, of causes once defeated, now victorious, for which others shed their blood. Teach us once again that we are not our own, that we have been bought with a price, that we may go forth to make our lives part payment on an unpayable debt. Play we beseech thee upon our nobler fears, O thou who has given us the power of foresight,

teach us the new the lesson of the springtime, that whatsoever a man soeth, that shall he also reap. If there are lives or families here already treading the pathway of careless dalliance, which pleasant now must find its end in the valley of death, awake in us we beseech thee a holy awe of this law abiding universe that so inexorably moves from cause to consequence. Play we beseech thee upon our loves, awaken within us the spirit of friendship and kindness, save us from our vindictiveness, disillusionment and cynicism. If some have wronged us, help us afresh to see how some have blessed us. Kindle again the fire of good will upon the hot stone of our better selves, let benevolence, large heartedness, tolerance

and friendliness have possession of our souls. Strike also we beseech thee the sterner cords, awaken our devotion. O God, we pray thee for work to do, good work and strength to do it with. Send us out into this great generation where no man need waste his life, to find our tasks in the home, the church, the state, and in the worldwide fraternity of mankind, that because we have lived and thought and toiled, this earth may be a more decent place for thee to raise thy children in. So play upon us spirit of the living God, let all our hearts awake to praise thy name and then go forth to serve thy cause. We

ask it in the name of Christ. Amen. You have been listening to a prayer by the late Harry Emerson Phosdick, former minister emeritus of the Riverside Church. We invite you now to listen to a prayer by the late Harry Emerson Phosdick, former minister emeritus of the Riverside Church. Eternal God, whose son gloriously renewed the morning, renew our hearts within us. For though the earth be filled with beauty and the gifts of thy grace lie all around us and the doors of opportunity open before us, that shall we not have eyes to see, nor face to believe, nor power to appropriate if our hearts be not right. Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew our right spirit

within us. We bring to thee our foreboding thoughts about the world, our sorrow at the wars that ravage the peoples, our fears and apprehensions for mankind. We dare not leave them out of our worship for they are here. Help us to lay them on the high altar under the shadow of the cross. For uncalvery, love seemed conquered by hate, goodness by evil and life by death, low how thy victory came, so that still our Lord's name is adored by all thy children. Grant that in these days we may keep our faith in thee, Lord God omnipotent, determiner of destiny from everlasting to everlasting, in whose strong hands are the reigns of all the earth. Give us eyes to see again thy horses and chariots

of fire upon the mountain. We bring to thee our benedictions thanks to thee for all that is lovely and excellent in our lives, for friendships and families, for the fidelity of strong character, for the deep resources of spiritual power that we have found in thee in the days of our need, for great books and great music, for the beauty of the natural world and the laughter of little children and the salvation that is in Christ. Teach our lives to see more clearly the meaning of life, its abiding values, its prophecies of hope, and awaken in us in the sanctuary the song of gratitude and praise. We bring before thee our sins in shame and penitence. Our Lord help us to defeat these demons that

invade our lives. They come as though from some nether hell to spoil our happiness, wreck our homes, disrupt our families, and make us moral burdens to ourselves and to the world. Give us strength to drive them out, grant us an honest hour of self-dealing that our eyes may grow ethically clear. Our consciences be strengthened and our resources replenished as we worship thee. We pray for our schools, recalling with gratitude the long sacrifices with which as from travel they have come. We thank thee for all faithful teachers, spending their lives creatively for the children's sakes. With affection and expectation we think of the boys and girls who come and go through the doors of our schools. Grant such insight,

such quality of mind, such enlarged vision and sturdy character in those who teach and those who learn that the world through our schools may achieve the moral and intellectual foundations on which a nobler society may be built. Grant thy grace especially to any in deep sorrow here. If we have visited the grave and left as it were our very hearts within the Sepulchre, we bring our uncompanion loneliness to thee for thy sustenance and health. Teach thou us to feel not only thy presence, but the presence of those who have fallen on sleep, a great company of spiritual witnesses that we may worship here today, not simply a fellowship of those who chance to be alive on earth, but as well the noble living and

the noble dead. So in every deep and intimate need, in temptation, in sorrow, in the prosperity that leads to pride, in the disillusionment that leads to despair, may we find the strength of God in the spirit of Christ. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen.