O Lord Christ,

who came that we might have life

and have it more abundantly,

  so come that we shall have full opportunity to live;

  so come that we may open out opportunities to all

    who are dear to you because they lack and suffer hunger.

Come and break down all that hinders life;

  the iron walls of grim refusal that give life no chance.

Come and give wisdom and patience,

  courage and resolution to discover

  how your goodwill may verify itself to all.

Give us life that we may give out life.

Come and fill us with your own strong desire;

  with your own brave hope,

  that all may find their way to live in you.

Give unity; give brotherhood; give peace.

H. Scott Holland, 1847-1918, Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford

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Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.