Evening Prayer Thursday, 25 February 2021
A reading from Psalm 22
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honour him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or scornedthe suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.
25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you I will fulfil my vows.
26 The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the Lord will praise him –
may your hearts live for ever!
27 All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs to the Lord<
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him –
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve him;future generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!
Psalm 22: 23–31 NIV®
A reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans
Righteousness through Faith
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the ‘law’ that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
Romans 3: 21–31
Dear Lord, in this season of Lent,
as we search for your guidance in out Lenten studies and our personal prayer,
show us your ways for us and teach us the path that you wish each of us to follow,
give us the self-knowledge and humility to truly repent of all the wrongdoings we have done in the past,
and earnestly endeavour from this day forth to follow you, however difficult the path may seem to be.
With all your faithful people we give you praise, honour and reverence.
We acknowledge you as our one true God.
Grant, compassionate God, that we may play our part in doing all we can to help the poor and needy
to have sufficient food and other necessities. We thank you for all those people who work so hard
to support the Foodbank and Community Fridges here in Milton Keynes,
and for all the charities that work to relieve poverty and deprivation throughout the world.
Help us to learn the lessons that our experience of the pandemic should teach us,
that throughout the whole world we are one people, all dependent on each other.
We must not turn our backs on anyone, for whatever reason.
May we recognise, like the Psalmist, that to the ends of the earth, we are all one family: your family.
The rich of the earth cannot feast and worship you, unless the whole world may do so.
We ask you to help us understand that we have no righteousness of our own;
it is only by faith in the redemptive power of Jesus Christ, your Son and our Saviour,
that we can be justified. Help us to judge ourselves as you would judge us,
and strengthen our resolve to change our ways to be more like Jesus.
As we set aside the cares of this day, and place into your hands
all the issues that we have not been able to resolve.
Bless us as we prepare to settle for this night’s rest,
so that we may be refreshed for tomorrow,
ready to serve you as faithfully as we may.
Amen
So, we close our time of prayer by saying the Grace to one another,
whether we be together or 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
