DAY OF PRAYER

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 55, 2 September 1944, Page 8

DAY OF PRAYER

TOWN HALL SERVICE

For the national day of. prayer requested by the King for tomorrow in connection with the fifth anniversary of the outbreak of war, special services have been arranged in most churches. The principal service of prayer and dedication in Wellington, arranged by the leaders of ■• the churches in conjunction with the City Council, will be held in the Town-Hall, commencing at 3 p.m. The order of service will be as follows:— National Anthem; invocation offered by the Rev. J. Thomson Macky, Moderator of the Wellington Presbytery;' hymn; reading from the Old Testament by his Excellency the GovernorGeneral; prayer of thanksgiving and j concession, Commissioner J. Evan I Smith; hymn; reading from the New Testament by the Mayor; hymn- address by the Rev. Lawrence A. Northhymn; prayer of intercession, Rev. R W. Simpson; prayer of dedication and blessing, Rev. J. Thomson Macky; New Zealand' National Anthem. The president cf the Baptist Union of New Zealand, the Rev. H. G. Goring requests that in all Baptist churches throughout the Dominion tomorrow continuous and prevailing prayers be offered in compliance with the King's request, as well as special gatherings for prayer and dedication.

The following prayer, commended by the. Archbishop of Canterbury in 1943, is re-issued as appropriate for use in church services tomorrow— "Almighty God, Judge of the nations, we come before Thee in penitence and thanksgiving, in humility and faith, We give Thee hearty thanks for Thy mercy shown us in the success granted to our arms and those of our Allies We thank Thee for the courage and endurance of our failors, soldiers, and airmen, for the vision of our statesmen, and the skill of our commanders And we pray Thee to uphold the spirit of all people of the United Nations that we may be worthy of victory and may so dedicate ourselves to Thy service that we may be able to use it to Thy honour and the benefit of all mankind."