Doing Good on the Sabbath
Heavenly Father, we rejoice that amid the ceaseless cares and anxieties, the vain desires and wearisome struggles of our earthly life, your holy Sabbath has been given us as a day of rest and refreshment of soul. We thank you for all your mercies unto us during the past week, for the preservation of our lives, of our health, and our strength; for the blessings of home, of love, of friendship, and for all good influences which support us in the hour of trial and temptation. You send us the joys that brighten our days; from your hand also come the sorrows that cast their shadows over them. In all our experiences we recognize your guidance and praise your wisdom. O may this Sabbath bring rest to every disquieted heart and be a healing balm to every wounded soul.
You who hear prayer, we beseech you to endow us with a contented disposition. When we pray for new blessings, may we come to you in the spirit of humility and submission, remembering that we cannot know whether what we ask is really for our good. You alone know and order all things well, whether you grant our petitions or deny them. When we sing your praise may our souls rise with our songs to you, and when we render you our homage, may we remember that only by obedience to your commandments, by faithfulness to our duties, by the goodness of our deeds, can we make our worship acceptable to you.
Look with compassion upon your children, and grant us strength of love and purity of purpose, that we may live together in unity and work together in peace and concord, so that the well-being of all may be promoted, and your name, O God, be glorified in all the earth. Amen.
From Evening Service for the Sabbath from The Union Prayerbook, courtesy of Magnificat
