William Temple Archbishop of Canterbury 1881-1944

Worship is the submission of our nature to God.  It is the quickening of conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of the imagination by his beauty;  the opening of the heart to his love;  the surrender of will to his purpose  -  and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy of that self-centredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin. 


General Thanksgiving.  Edward Reynolds  37[th] Vicar of All Saints  Church Northampton, 1626 and later Bishop of Norwich .  


ALMIGHTY God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants do give you most humble and hearty thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all men.  We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And we beseech you, give us that due sense of all thy mercies, that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful, and that we shew forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives; by giving up ourselves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory, world without end. 


Walter Raleigh 
Even such is time that takes in trust
Our youth, our joys, our all we have,
And pays us but with earth and dust;
Who in the dark and silent grave,
When we have wandered all our ways
Shuts us the story of our days;
But from this earth, this grave, this dust,
My God shall raise me up I trust.





GRANT, O merciful God, that as thine holy Apostle Saint James, leaving his father and all that he had, without delay was obedient unto the calling of thy Son Jesus Christ, and followed him; so we, forsaking all worldly and carnal affections, may be evermore ready to follow thy holy commandments; through Jesus Christ our Lord.Amen.


Chester Cathedral Prayer
Give me a good digestion Lord..............

Heavenly Father, who hast brought our gracious sovereign Queen Elizabeth to the completion of her ninetieth year, and dost gather her people in celebration of the same: grant that we, rejoicing before thee with thankful hearts, may ever be united in love and service to one another, and her kingdom flourish in prosperity and peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Heavenly Father,
as we celebrate the ninetieth birthday of Her Majesty the Queen,
receive our heartfelt thanks
for all that you have given her in these ninety years
and for all that she has given to her people.
Continue, we pray, your loving purposes in her,
and as you gather us together in celebration,
unite us also in love and service to one another;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God be with us all evermore 
