Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Friday evening prayers.

We are still in the season of Easter.
As we look around us, particularly on days like today, as I write,
while the sun is shining, we see signs of spring all around us:
gardens full of daffodils, the churchyard in our village full of primroses,
longer days and on some we feel the warmth of the sun.

There is much to celebrate and be joyful about –
not least the presence of God in our lives, the joy of the resurrection –
without the genuine uncertainty and confusion of the first disciples
before they experienced the enduring presence of Christ in their lives.

So, we begin our prayers this evening with a prayer of thanks
for all that we have been given
and all that we experience of God in our lives today.

We thank you, loving and generous God,
for your goodness to us and all that you do in our lives.
Thank you for your overwhelming love and constant care,
demonstrated by your sacrifice on the cross and by your daily presence with us.
Forgive us when we don’t thank you enough, for who you are,
for all that you do, for all that you’ve given to us.
May we always keep our eyes on you, looking to you for guidance
as we tackle the challenges of our daily lives.
Renew our spirits, fill us with your peace and joy.
We love you and we need you, this day and every day.
We give you praise and thanks, in Jesus’ name.

Amen

For many of us, there have been times this year when life has been strange,
and we have faced different challenges – some of us facing these alone.
We are especially thankful for God’s presence at these times.

Faithful and caring God,
thank you that we can call on you and know that you are there,
waiting when we turn to you for guidance and support.
We ask you to be with those we love and care for
and with all who are lonely and feeling cut off from their friends.
Grant them peace and joy in the knowledge
that you will be their constant guide and companion.
For Christ’s sake, we ask this.

Amen

But we know that there are people who do not have this reassurance
and sometimes it is difficult for people to see you
in the faces of those around them.
And so, we pray:

Creator of the universe,
you made the world in beauty and restore all things in Jesus Christ.
We pray that, wherever your image is still disfigured
by poverty, sickness, selfishness, war and greed,
the presence of Jesus Christ may be known in justice, love, and peace,
to the glory of your name.

Amen

When we read the story of the disciples who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus
(Luke24: 13–35), we get some insight into how confusing it must have been
for those first disciples to have witnessed the death of Jesus
and then to have heard from the women who had been to the tomb
that Jesus was alive again.

Living, as we do, in a post-resurrection age, we need to use our imaginations
if we want to try to experience how they felt.
What must it have been like not to know
that Jesus had been raised from the dead?
Perhaps the closest we may have been to that would be
in the dark times which some will have experienced,
of loneliness or depression,
when it feels as if no-one is there or understands what we feel.

At times like that, many people find support by reading one of the psalms.
The one set for this coming Sunday in the Revised Common Lectionary
is Psalm 4, which seems particularly appropriate for us to use
at the end of our prayer time this evening. So, I will read that now.

Psalm 4

¹ Answer me when I call,
O God of my right!
You gave me room when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.

²How long, you people, shall my honour suffer shame?
How long will you love vain words, and seek after lies?
³ But know that the Lord has set apart the faithful for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.

⁴When you are disturbed, do not sin;
ponder it on your beds, and be silent.
⁵ Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the Lord.

⁶ There are many who say, ‘O that we might see some good!
Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!
⁷ You have put gladness in my heart
more than when their grain and wine abound.

⁸ I will both lie down and sleep in peace;
for you alone, O Lord,
make me lie down in safety.

I pray that you will continue to experience the joy of the resurrection
and that we may all be drawn closer to one another
through these prayer times together.

Let us close our evening prayers 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