Gracious God,

Thank you for your Providence,
always giving us enough light for our next step.

Along the way, these 70 years, we have discerned,
you want us to be a sign of the coming unity of our whole human family.

Reconciled and reconciling, spreading hope,
as you “fill our mouths with laughter”.

We see the need for this now so clearly, in a world with too many tears.

We pray that, by your grace and our best WCC efforts,
we can be true to our high calling,
in the power of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

(Bishop Philip Huggins,
President, National Council of Churches in Australia;
remembering a WCC meeting with the theme:
“The Church is to be a sign of the coming unity of the whole human family”.)