Responsive prayers for the opeing of the renovated main hall in the ecumenical centre Geneva

The following prayers were said by members of central committee before they entered the newly renovated Main Hall on August 26 2009

Dialogue of Praise
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Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain.
Unless a city is of God, those who guard it keep watch in vain.
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God set the earth itself on its foundations,
so that it cannot finally be shaken.
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Every house and gathering-place is built by someone,
yet the architect of all things is God.
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We give God thanks that we are called to gather in this space.
How good and pleasant it is when God's family dwells together in unity!
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In this room many have laboured and rejoiced in the service of Christ.
We give thanks to the Lord for so great a cloud of witnesses.
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Today we dedicate this room in honour of Willem A. Visser 't Hooft.
And we remember all who have been inspired by him.
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Praise to you, Lord God, for those who have led us on your way.
May their memory be eternal!
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Grant that we may be worthy successors to such leaders.
Bless our mission and our ministries, that we may be one in Christ.
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For one may plant, and another may water,
but it is the Triune God alone who gives the growth.
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Grant that we may be worthy successors to Vim Visser 't Hooft,
and may we dwell in that Christian unity toward which he pointed us.
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"One generation shall praise the Lord's works to another,
and shall declare the mighty acts of God."
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In 1965, this hall,

given by the family of the late Anne Douglass Dillon,
was dedicated in the presence of

WCC general secretary W.A. Visser 't Hooft
to the vision "That they may all be one".
Today we commemorate

the first general secretary of the World Council of Churches,
a transformational figure in the ecumenical movement,
by naming this space "W.A. Visser 't Hooft Hall".
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Lord, help us hear afresh these words of the Apostle Paul:
"According to the grace of God given to me,
like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation,

and someone else is building on it.
Each builder must choose with care how to build on it.
For no one can lay any foundation

other than the one that has been laid:
that foundation is Jesus Christ." (1Cor.3:10-11)
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To God be all glory, thanks and praise! Amen.
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