Vocation

O Lord! bless us in our meeting now. We beseech Thee to give us some word to speak; though our own words be feeble let Thy strength come with them. Do Thou help us, and give us wisdom and utterance and earnestness, and may the word of the Lord be magnified among us, and the message of the great love of the Christ Who keeps us from evil find entrance into many hearts. O Lord, bless us each in our several callings and condition; be near any of us who may have any special temptations or difficulties. If any of us are proving the loneliness of life, or its sadness, or its difficulties, and if our way may seem to be barred against us, do Thou help us to patience and courage, to wise effort, to dependence upon Thee. O Lord, do Thou keep us all, and may every one of us from this time forth say unto Thee, ‘My Father! Thou art my Guide.’ These young men and maidens we commend to Thee that they may grow up serving God, His faithful witnesses and soldiers, hating covetousness and all evil, and binding sound wisdom and discretion on their hearts and their foreheads.