Evening Prayer Friday, 14 August 2020

As we are a scattered congregation at present,
in many ways our relationship with some members of our own congregation
has become similar to our relationship with other Christians world-wide –
we know that we have a common bond in Christ, but we have little other direct contact with one another.
Fortunately, some of us are able to meet through the Internet,
but it would be a mistake to assume that everyone is able to do this.

However, being apart from one another does not mean that we don’t care about one another.
In fact, in some ways, this twice-daily contact is bringing us closer together
and I hope you find, like I do, that it is enabling us to pray for one another in a more informed way.

So, let us pray for those members of our congregations who we know,
but have not seen or spoken to since we were last in church.

Loving God, we are members Christ’s family throughout the world,
but you have brought our Cornerstone congregations to worship as one community and we miss seeing one another.

We pray for all those who do not have access to the Internet or a smartphone
or who, for other reasons, may not access our daily prayers.
Keep them safe, encourage them in their witness to you in their daily life and help them to know that they are not forgotten.

We look forward to a time when we will be able to meet again and we ask you to bless us all.

For your name’s sake.

Amen

I also think that it is important for us to remember our worldwide family in these prayer times.
I was looking at the Christian Aid website to find out more about the impact
which the coronavirus is having in some of the countries we hear little about.
I would like to begin our prayers this evening with a prayer I found on their website.

Love never fails

Even in the darkest moments, love gives hope.
Love compels us to fight against coronavirus alongside our sisters and brothers living in poverty.
Love compels us to stand together in prayer with our neighbours near and far.
Love compels us to give and act as one.
Now, it is clear that our futures are bound together more tightly than ever before.
As we pray in our individual homes – around the nation and around the world – we are united as one family.
So, let us pause and find a moment of peace, as we lift up our hearts together in prayer.

Loving God. as we learn to live with the restrictions placed on us by the prevalence of the coronavirus,
we remember that there are others suffering too, throughout the world.

We pray for people living in cramped conditions in refugee camps,
where social distancing is an impossibility.
Guard and protect them and give them courage in the face of the obstacles they face in living a fulfilling life.

We pray for people who have little or no access to medical care, clean water, or enough food,
all of which make them particularly vulnerable to contracting the disease.

We thank you for the work of Christian Aid and other charities which aim to relieve this suffering:
We thank you that they are able to provide families with clean water, soap and information on keeping themselves safe;
to provide frontline medical and aid workers with equipment and supplies to care for the vulnerable and sick;
to ensure families get enough food to prevent malnutrition, particularly amongst children,
and try to help these people, who have suffered so much, to face this new threat.

We thank you to for all those who support the work of Christian Aid and similar organisations
by donation, through education and through prayer.
We pray that you will uphold them in the valuable work
which they do to bring a measure of relief to those who struggle day by day.

A verse from a hymn by Fred Pratt Green:

It is God who hold the nations in the hollow of his hand;
It is God whose light is shining in the darkness of the land;
It is God who builds his City on the Rock and not on sand:
May the living God be praised!

Words © 1976 Hope Publishing Company, 380 S Main Pl, Carol Stream, IL 60188

And now we close our prayer time this evening by saying the Grace together:

May the Grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
be with us all, evermore.

Amen

Rosemary Kearsey