In honor of Memorial Day weekend, I would like to offer a special prayer this morning. It was a prayer given by Rev. Torrance Phelps, the Chaplain of the California State Assembly in 1945. His prayers reflect the tenuous times of his day, the fears and the hopes of this State’s citizens. This was the prayer he gave on this date in 1945, just a few weeks after the war in Europe had ended, and months before the battle in the Pacific was finally over.
God of Destiny:
Days of Destiny are upon us - days fraught with possibilities, of profound danger or of infinite blessing.
May we see that we live in an age when a few days may witness more changes than a former century.
Let us see that our world is fluid and plastic, and that our hands can help mould it into a brighter state with ampler life for all, or mar it by selfish blundering efforts.
Let us see that by some act this day we might change the character of our free institutions, and that we have the grave responsibility of helping to determine the future form of our democracy.
Let us pray for wisdom and for courage to avoid any ill advised action that future history might deplore, or that might darken the unsullied escutcheon of this Assembly.
May we labor by the aid of all that is Divine within us, so that the next generation shall rise up and bless us and say, “You transmitted to us this glorious inheritance.” -- Amen.
