PRELUDE

The Service may begin with a Chorale, an Introit, a Processional Hymn, or selected Sentences.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION, by the Minister and people:

Before the wonders of life we acknowledge our failures to see and to revere; before the sanctities of life we are ashamed of our disrespects and indignities; before the gifts of life we own that we have made choice of lesser goods, and here today seek the gifts of the spirit; before the heroisms of life we would be enlarged to new devotion. Amen.

Peace be with you.
And with thy spirit.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up in joy and praise.

HYMN or ANTHEM

FIRST LESSON

CHANT, if desired.

SECOND LESSON, if desired.

The Minister may then say:
Here endeth the reading of the lesson.

LITANY

Let us rejoice in the manifold richness of life about us and within; within us as understanding and choice; about us a fair and bountiful nature and the works of generous men;
We rejoice in the abundant life:
In the immemorial story of human kind; of struggle and venture, of sowing and reaping, of mirth and zest, of rites and assemblies, of mating and feasting, of ordered custom and new liberties won;
We rejoice in the story of man:
In the finding of facts and in shapes of moulded form, in motions of the dance and of melody, in storied images of grief and of ecstasy, in new visions of order;
We rejoice in the beauty of art and the power of knowledge.
For the rest of home, the comfort of friends and the unending charm of persons; for the desire to work and to create, for the broad earth and the affairs of toil open before us;
We are thankful for home and friends and life’s labor.
For prophets and reformers who cry shame upon social wrong; for leaders of the people who are wise in the policies of state; for many forms of effort to build a commonwealth where every man may reach his highest good; we are thankful.
Let us cherish the state that her mighty ends may be achieved.
For shrines of faith where goods are praised and evils faced, where sorrows are healed and high purposes kindled, where our spirits are brought to that accord with all things which is at once our noblest task and most sublime joy; we are thankful.
Let us upbuild the church in strength to minister ever more abundant life and peace to all the world.

PRAYER

ORGAN; DEVOTIONAL INTERLUDE, ending with the music of the following chant:

ACT OF AFFIRMATION, to be said by the Minister and people standing.

We believe in the goodness of life, realizable in this present world, available to all the children of men who seek the masteries of the spirit in every condition.
We believe in man and the worth of all persons.
We believe in labor, in the duty of all to bring forth in their several callings the fruits of useful living, and in the right of each to the just rewards of his industry.
We believe in society, in the ordered life of church and state, of school and home, of the arts and sciences, and we rejoice in this present hour of communion with one another and with the common hopes of all men.

CHANT, by choir and people.

May grace, mercy and peace be to all man-kind, for-ever and ever. Amen.

OFFERTORY, during which an anthem may be sung.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

HYMN

SERMON

HYMN

BENEDICTION

POSTLUDE