Wednesday, April 08, 2009

World Without End?

ALMIGHTY God, Father of all mercies, we thine unworthy servants do give thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving-kindness to us, and to all men; [*particularly to those who desire now to offer up their praises and thanksgivings for thy late mercies vouchsafed unto them.] We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all, for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy mercies, that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful, and that we shew forth thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives; by giving up ourselves to thy service, and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.

Can any one explain why 'world without end' has completely disappeared from our 'formal' and 'informal liturgy'? The only contemporary usage of that I can think of (besides Ken Follett) is a song by Christian ska band Five Iron Frenzy >>>Listen here.

Any ideas?


Picture from Flickr.

2 comments:

Mike W said...

maybe because most christians think the world will end?

Matthew Moffitt said...

That sucks.

Any idea when we actually dropped it out?