“Strengthen Your servants to boldly declare Your name” by Columba (A.D. 521-597)

“O Lord,

Holy and true,

Who opens and none can shut,

As You have set before Your church an open door,

Strengthen Your servants to boldly enter in

And to declare Your name,

That they who oppose may yet come to worship

And may know that You love Your church.

Grant to Your people patience to keep Your Word,

And keep them from the hour of trial which is coming

Upon the whole world to try them who dwell on the earth,

And encourage all Christians in every land

To hold fast that which You have given,

That the crown of glory be not taken away,

But that having overcome, they may stand before You

As pillars in the temple of God

And bear the name of the heavenly city

And Your own new name, O Christ our God.

Father, we commend to You all who are joined to us

By natural bonds of love;

The little children dear to our hearts,

And all who for our sakes daily deny themselves.

May all our kindred,

Having Your Holy Spirit as their helper,

Be at peace and have unfeigned love among themselves.

And grant them, O Lord, not only what is sufficient to supply

The needs of this present life but also the good

And eternal gifts that are laid up for them who do Your commandments

Through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.”

–Columba, as quoted in Sinclair Ferguson, Love Came Down at Christmas: Daily Readings For Advent(Epsom, U.K.: Good Book Company, 2018), 155-156.