Evening Prayer Thursday, 27 May 2021
A reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans
Life through the Spirit
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Romans 8: 1–4 NIV®
Dear God, we thank you for sending your Son Jesus Christ so that, through his death and resurrection
we have been set free from the law of sin and death, to live life by the law of the Spirit.
We thank you, too, for the gift of the Holy Spirit, who sets us free to live a life dedicated to you,
and supports us as we strive to do your will as followers of Jesus Christ.
We can not know or fully understand how the Holy Spirit is present with us and within us,
but we can be confident that through the Spirit we are safe in your love.
May this Pentecost be for us a new beginning as your Church here in Milton Keynes.
May we move froward with a renewed commitment to serve you,
to offer support and fellowship to one another, and to reach out to all our neighbours near and far.
As we learn to live with the effects of the coronavirus,
help us to find new ways to support all those who are suffering as a result of the virus,
whether directly or indirectly. Whatever else we may do, we must keep them in our prayers.
We pray for your world. Help us and people worldwide to learn to be better stewards of this precious,
fragile world that is not only our home, but home to all the living creatures
whose well-being is necessary to the well-being of humanity.
All the wonderful, beautiful gifts that you have bestowed on us are not to be squandered,
and our world is just one that we must nurture and safeguard, for the sake of all.
We pray for peace throughout the world. We pray for peace in our own lives, peace in our community,
peace among nations, and between different cultural and ethnic groups.
We pray for an end to racism, racial intolerance and the violence it engenders.
Help us all to learn to accept and to respect all people, however strange and different from ourselves we see them to be.
May we learn from one another and develop a healthy curiosity to better understand and appreciate our differences.
Finally, we pray for ourselves. You know far better than we do ourselves what our real needs are
and we pray that you will meet these needs in ways that you know will serve us best,
so that we may continue to lead fulfilled and happy lives in your service.
We ask all these prayers in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ.
Amen
