Evening Prayers Wednesday, 2 September 2020
Memory, Flooding Back
By Jeremy Michael Clark
The river’s rise out of itself began
in the west, the lowest part
of the city. Its first breach of the bank:
subtle, just a thin film
of water over the land, like a hand
coaxes a child to sleep. Within hours,
it reached our homes. When the water
seeped through the window, I felt
so confused. How like a child to think
the house had started to cry.
Good evening and welcome to Evening Prayers
That this evening may be holy, good and peaceful,
let us pray with one heart and mind.
Silence is kept.
As our evening prayer rises before you, O God,
so may your mercy come down upon us
to cleanse our hearts
and set us free to sing your praise
now and for ever.
Breathe in
Breathe out
Be still…
When our faith is weak
you strengthen us,
when we lose our way
you rescue us,
when we fall into sin
you forgive us.
Gracious Father,
please remind us
as we forget,
that your love is
unconditional,
always moulding us
into what we could be,
always blessing us
that we might glorify you.
For love,
grace
and forgiveness,
we thank you.
Amen
Presence
I pause for a moment
and think of the love and the grace
that God showers on me,
creating me in his image and likeness,
making me his temple….
Freedom
Lord, you created me to live in freedom.
May your Holy Spirit guide me to follow you freely.
Instil in my heart a desire
To know and love you more each day.
Consciousness
Dear Lord help me to be always
aware of the important things in life.
To care for those around me.
To seek your presence in all I meet.
THE WORD OF GOD
Luke 5:33-39
Then the Pharisees and the scribes said to Jesus,
“John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees,
frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink.
Jesus said to them, “You cannot make wedding guests fast
while the bridegroom is with them, can you?
The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away
from them, and then they will fast in those days.”
He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from
a new garment and sews it on an old garment;
otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from
the new will not match the old.
And no one puts new wine into old wineskins;
otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled,
and the skins will be destroyed.
But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine,
but says, ‘The old is good.'”
WORDS OF WISDOM
Our separate self is who we think we are, but our thinking does not make it true. It is a social and mental construct that gets us started on life’s journey. It is a set of agreements between us as individuals and our parents, families, school friends, partner or spouse, culture, and religion. It is our “container.” It is largely defined in distinction from others, precisely as our separate and unique self. It is probably necessary to get started, but it becomes problematic when we stop there and spend the rest of our lives promoting and protecting it. This small and separate self is merely our launching pad: our appearance, education, job, money, success, and so on. These are the trappings of ego that help us get through an ordinary day.
Please understand that the separate self is not bad or inherently deceitful. It is actually quite good and necessary as far as it goes; it just does not go far enough. Too often, it poses and substitutes for the real thing and pretends to be more than it is. The separate self is bogus more than bad. We need the temporary costumes of our egoic selves to get started, but they show their limitations when they stay around too long.
When we are able to move beyond our separate self, it will feel as if we lost nothing important at all. Of course, if we don’t know that there is anything “beyond” the separate self, the transition will probably feel like dying. Only after we have fallen into the True Self, will we be able to say with the mystic Rumi (1207‒1273), “What have I ever lost by dying?” We have discovered true freedom and liberation. When we are connected to the Whole, we no longer need to protect or defend the smaller parts. We are connected to something inexhaustible and unhurtable. The True Self cannot be hurt. I said that at the National AIDS Conference one time, and it was one of the most healing lines for that crowd. I got letters for months afterward; they realized the “True You” is indestructible. All our hurts and feelings of being offended come from our separate selves.
If we do not let go of our separate self/false self at the right time and in the right way, we remain stuck, trapped, and addicted. (The traditional word for that was sin.) Unfortunately, many people reach old age still entrenched in their egoic operating system. Only our True Self lives forever and is truly free in this world.
Fr Richard Rohr
PRAYERS & INTERCESSIONS
We pray for the world…
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
We pray for the universal church of Christ…
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
We pray for one another and all those known to us…
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
As our Saviour taught us, so we pray
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.
Calm me, O Lord, as You stilled the storm.
Still me, O Lord, keep me from harm.
Let all the tumult within me cease.
Enfold me, Lord, in Your peace.
I will lie down this night with God,
and God will lie down with me;
I will lie down this night with Christ,
and Christ will lie down with me;
I will lie down this night with the Spirit,
and the Spirit will lie down with me;
God and Christ and the Spirit,
be lying down with me.
AMEN
The Blessing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLPDcqwdcto
Revd Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga
