Evening Prayer Thursday, 4 February 2021
A reading from Psalm 147
1 Praise the Lord.
How good it is to sing praises to our God,
how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers the exiles of Israel.
3 He heals the broken-hearted
and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars
and calls them each by name.
5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
his understanding has no limit.
6 The Lord sustains the humble
but casts the wicked to the ground.
7 Sing to the Lord with grateful praise;
make music to our God on the harp.
8 He covers the sky with clouds;
he supplies the earth with rain
and makes grass grow on the hills.
9 He provides food for the cattle
and for the young ravens when they call.
10 His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;
11 the Lord delights in those who fear him,
who put their hope in his unfailing love.
Praise the Lord.
Psalm 147: 1–11 & 20c
We praise you, O Lord, we offer you our grateful praise.
Lord, we pray that you will build up Milton Keynes to be a City alive to God.
Grant that we, your Church at the centre of the city, may work with you to build
a sense of community and of common cause with all those about us.
We give you praise for all the great work you do for us
through the doctors and other health care workers.
We pray that you will care for them, as they care for others.
We thank you for the work of scientists to develop vaccines
and all the workers and volunteers who have played their part
in getting so many people vaccinated so quickly.
We pray that these vaccines be made available sooner rather than later
to the poorer countries of the world,
and that richer nations like ours will recognise the need to ensure
that everyone in the world has protection from the virus
before anyone is completely safe.
We pray for all those who are broken-hearted in any way,
those bereaved or separated from loved ones and feeling isolated,
those who fear for the well-being of their families and loved ones.
Bind up all their wounds, whether physical, mental or spiritual,
and grant us the ability to play our part in bringing your loving care to them.
Amen
So, we say the Grace to one another, whether together of far apart:
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with us all, evermore.
Amen
