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God of grace and God of glory,
On Your people pour Your power;
Crown Your ancient church’s story;
Bring its bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage
For the facing of this hour.
Lo, the clouds of evil ‘round us
Hide Your brightness from our gaze;
From the fears that long have bound us,
Free our hearts to trust and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the living of these days.
Cure Your children’s warring madness;
Bend our pride to Your control;
Shame our wanton, selfish gladness,
Rich in things and poor in soul.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
In our seeking to be whole.
Fill us with a living vision;
Heal our wounds that we may be
Bound as one beyond division
In the struggle to be free.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage;
Ears to hear and eyes to see.
Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969), a liberal Baptist minister in New York City, played a central role in the conflict between fundamentalism and liberalism in twentieth-century America. Amid controversy while serving a Presbyterian church, Fosdick was invited by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. to lead what became the interdenominational Riverside Church, where Fosdick was the first minister.
