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Tuesday 3 January 2017

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW


What's new is the year. What's old is the language. To wish everyone the very best for this year, there is no better wish than faith. Here is one way to strengthen it, quietly, quietly, every morning. Just before rising, say this prayer.

O Lord our heavenly Father,
almighty and everlasting God,
who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day,
defend us in the same with thy mighty power,
and grant that this day we fall into no sin,
neither run into any kind of danger;
but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance,
to do always that is righteous in thy sight.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

The Book of Common Prayer's Third Collect, for Grace, in the service of Morning Prayer, it is a translation of a Latin original from the 5th century Gelasian sacramentary, and as the French say, in five-and-a-half centuries it has not taken on a wrinkle. No need to "update" or "modernise". A perfect companion to a new day, and to a new year.