Father, make us glad that we are here, glad in the dear fellowships of the past, glad in the strong ties that bind us to our tasks, glad of the tasks. O Thou Burden Giver, lift us above the selfishness of the ease-seeker.

¶ Father, we come to listen to Thy commissions. Grant us power to go into the dark places of human lives, the sad places of human hearts, and in Thy name speak the word that may bring strength, peace, consolation. Father, help us to realize the opportunities that await us; gird us anew for the high and holy warfare wherein the weapons are the instruments of love, the counters of kindness. Help us to forget the things that hurt, to rise above all discouragements, to dwell with Thee in deathless places; to rejoice with Thee in the boundless realms where the petty lines of caste, class and sect, of race and prejudice, do not obtain, but where Thy children, conscious of Thy Fatherhood, rejoice in the largeness of the love that includes all races, all climes, and all ages.

¶ Father, take our hands and touch them with usefulness. Take our feet that they may be shod with willingness. Take our hearts that they may glow with kindness. Take our minds and tutor them in the way of truth. Take our voices and tune them to the universal harmonies, that in finite time we may sound some notes of thy never-ending song. Amen