Once more a new day lies before us, our Father. As we go out among humanity to do our work, touching the hands and lives of our fellow human beings, make us, we pray thee, friends of all in the world. Save us from blighting the fresh flower of any heart by the flare of sudden anger or secret hate. May we not bruise the rightful self-respect of any by contempt or malice. Help us to cheer the suffering by our sympathy, to freshen the drooping by our hopefulness, and to strengthen in all the wholesome sense of worth and the joy of life. Save us fro the deadly poison of class pride. Grant that we look all persons in the face with the eyes of a brother or a sister. If anyone needs us, make us ready to yield our help ingrudgingly, unless higher duties claim us, and may we rejoice that we have it in us to be helpful to our fellow human beings.
--The Rev. Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918), Baptist minister, theologian, teacher, and social reformer, one of the founders of the Social Gospel Movement, adapted from Prayers of the Social Awakening, 1909
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