DAY OF PRAYER

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 41, 16 August 1941, Page 10

DAY OF PRAYER

ARCHBISHOPS COMMENT

COURAGE TO MEET COMING

TRIALS

RUGBY, August 15. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr,» Lang, writes that the King's desire for" the observance of September 7 as a national day of prayer will have a reads' response from his people. 'It is only right," says Dr. Lang, "that the nation should humbly acknowledge its dependence on God and commit its cause to the Judge of all earth on the Sunday, immediately following the second anniversary of the day when it entered the greatest crisis in its long history. "As the third year of the war begins, while there is much for which we have reason to give thanks, there is a special call to remember in prayer the armies and people of Russia in their heroic resistance to the military might of Germany and the new and grave anxieties which are rising in the Near and Far East. "We know not what trials or dangers may be coming. Pray we, therefore, for courage to meet them and strength to overcome them. "So far as the Church of England is concerned, it is not proposed to issue any new forms of prayer. The clergy already have copies of the forms issued for May 26, 1940, and March 23, 1941. These may still be used, adapted to the needs and circumstances of their several congregations. "The desire has sometimes been expressed for some short and simple form for use on special occasions other than the customary, services of the Church. But no one form can meet the very 8 varied circumstances of such occasions. There is room here for the exercise by the clergy of their own initiative | and discretion, subject to the sanction of their bishops. "It is to be hoped that those who are responsible locally fox* the arrangement of work in factories and workshops and for the training of the Home Guard and all other branches of civilian service may make it possible for all on this Sunday to join in a united, national act of remembrance of God and of prayer for help and strength in the great struggle."—B.O.W.