Evening Prayer Friday, 16 July 2021
Good evening, everyone.
As we find the restrictions on some of our lives lifted, changed, or now seen as ‘self-imposed’,
as we are asked to take more responsibility for deciding what is safe for us, and for others,
I am aware that each of us is moving at a different pace.
While some people are contented to drop everything and try to return to what they remember as their previous life,
others are more cautious, and some are still advised not to go about yet at all.
I have begun to realise that, as online activities revert to face-to-face for some people,
others may now be excluded and begin to feel lonely and neglected.
So, I would like us to focus for a short while on the needs of these people
and provide an opportunity for us to consider ways in which we may be able to help them to feel more included.
Loving God, how grateful we are that you are in control of our lives, taking care of us,
prompting us and forgiving the careless and thoughtless mistakes we make.
We thank you for all the blessings we have received throughout our lives, but, particularly during the last eighteen months.
We are grateful for the way that you have brought us together –
building and sustaining a community of people who care for one another
and have grown closer through our common love of you.
We pray especially this evening for all those people who do not have the freedom
to choose to go out and about whenever they would like to.
May they know that they are still in our thoughts and in our hearts.
Bless them, keep them safe and prompt us to make that phone call or write that card which says, ‘You still matter to us.’
For every gift you give us
we praise and thank you.
As some of us begin to take more steps outside the house and feel more independent again,
let us not forget that we are still dependent on one another in many ways.
God, our Father, we thank you that you have made us part of an interdependent community, relying heavily on one another.
We thank you and pray for all those people who were up early this morning, or worked overnight,
to ensure that fresh food was in our shops, that sick people in hospital received their medication,
that business premises were cleaned, post was sorted and delivered and milk could be left on our doorsteps.
Thank you for their dedication and service. Help us to show our appreciation to them when we have the chance.
For every gift you give us
we praise and thank you.
We thank you and pray for all those who care for others:
teachers, nursery nurses, play leaders, child minders and parents who care for children;
nurses, doctors, care assistants and administrators in hospitals, surgeries and care homes.
May they know satisfaction in their work.
Help us not to take advantage of those whose work is thought of as ‘sufficient reward in itself.’
For every gift you give us
We praise and thank you.
We thank you and pray for those who work anti-social hours:
those who will be leaving home soon to work through the night
and those who will not see their family over the weekend, while they are working.
We pray that they will have other opportunities to engage with those they care for
and that while they work, they may know that the service they give is valued by others.
For every gift you give us
we praise and thank you.
Loving God, thank you for all those whose work touches our lives at Christ the Cornerstone.
We pray for Simon and Woody, who continued to work for us throughout the pandemic.
We pray for Ernesto and George and Father Francis,
as they continue to offer remote support while some aspects of church life return to the building.
Help us all to find the right balance between caution and confidence,
as we seek both to support our members and to bear witness to you in Milton Keynes.
May each of us seek to discern our part in engaging in practical activities and/or supporting others in prayer.
For every gift you give us
we praise and thank you.
And now we each think of those personal encounters we have had this week.
We lift to you all those who have helped us, offered us support or who have been on our minds.
May they, too, know your love and care and be conscious of our love reaching out to them, wherever they may be.
Keep them safe show us how to let them know that they are appreciated.
For every gift you give us
we praise and thank you.
As St Paul reminds us, as members of the body of Christ:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.
… For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
Romans 12: 1–2, 4–5
And now, at the end of another week, we join together by saying the Grace:
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
be with us all now, and for ever.
Amen
I wish you all a very good night.
Rosemary Kearsey
