XII.

A Prayer for the New Year

A Prayer for the New Year

O God, whose days are without end and Whose years cannot be numbered! We, the seeming creatures of a day, reach onward through the passing years To claim Thy kinship in Eternity. We thank Thee for the solemn pause wherein we put the dead past behind us, And face the new unknown with courage new. Lift up over Thy bewildered world the sunshine of Thy presence That we this year may see the world, Thy handiwork, Emerge victorious, purposeful from Chaos, Grant us to see, clear of cloud and battle-smoke, The Eternal City, real before our eyes, Stable on earth, the world of all our dreams, Home of men reconciled, redeemed from hate. Grant us to see Creation, after travail pangs, With Love again made young, young Hope within her arms, Her sorrows healed, her tears to pearls transformed. Then we, strangers and sojourners of Time, shall gird ourselves For the march which ends not but in rest with Thee. O hang the lamp of hope above our onward path; Give clearer light to understand the things which hitherto were dark; Give strength to work the work for which our hands were hitherto too feeble; Enlarge our hearts to love all that is worthy love, though hitherto unloved; Whatever seed Thou scatterest along these unknown days ahead, Help us to reap therefrom harvests of blessing for ourselves and others Which Thou wilt garner safe beyond the flux of years.

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