Beato angelico by Fra Angelico, c.1425, via Wikimedia Commons
Lord of the Church,
enable your people to be the Church:
a redeemed people,
a holy people,
a united people,
a missionary people:
and in all things
a people gladly submissive to the truth
as it is found in Jesus,
in whose name we pray.
Amen.
Michael John Saward, 1932-2015, British Anglican priest and hymnodist
______________
But you are
a chosen race,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
a people for his own possession,
that you may proclaim the excellencies of him
who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
prayer & verse 
