Evening Prayer Friday, 20 November 2020
Good evening, everyone. Welcome to our prayer time on Friday evening.
In our prayers this evening, in response to the words ‘Loving God,’
I invite you to respond, ‘bring your peace.’
Living God,
we feel so small and insignificant
in the wonderful world you have created,
that we are astounded that you are concerned about each one of us.
And yet our experience tells us that this is so.
We know we have not, and can never do enough
to repay what you have freely given to us,
so all we can do is to thank you for your goodness to us,
and strive to do our best.
We each come to you this evening with a mixture of emotions
and thoughts about our own situation,
events of the past week which have touched us personally
and events we have heard about on the news.
Whether those feelings make us feel good,
or lead to distress or confusion,
we ask you to help us use what we feel
to identify with others who may be experiencing something similar –
with people we know, and with people we have never met.
So let us remember people everywhere who are anxious.
Those who are worried because their state of health
makes them particularly susceptible to the coronavirus;
those who fear for the security of their jobs;
those whose financial insecurity means
that they cannot be sure of a regular income;
those who do not know where the next meal will come from
to feed their children.
To everyone who is anxious,
Loving God,
bring your peace.
Let us remember people everywhere who are sad or lonely.
Those who grieve for someone who has died;
those who mourn a broken relationship
or loss of contact with family or friends;
those who have no chance to speak to anyone from one day to the next;
those who still feel lonely in a crowd.
To everyone who feels sad or lonely,
Loving God,
bring your peace.
Let us remember people everywhere who live in fear.
Those who are afraid for their physical
safety because they sleep on the streets or live in a war zone,
those who have experienced threatening behaviour as they go about their normal business,
those who live with domestic violence.
To everyone who is afraid
Loving God,
bring your peace.
Let us remember people everywhere who are in despair.
Those who suffer from depression
and cannot see the light even in normal times
when they are surrounded by people who care about them;
those who struggle to find work,
applying for job after job without success;
those who no longer have any hope for the future.
To everyone who is in despair,
Loving God,
bring your peace.
Let us remember people everywhere have no sense of self-worth.
Those who have no sense that they have a purpose in their life, that others care for them or they have a contribution to make to society; those who do not know that they are precious to you.
To everyone who feels worthless,
Loving God,
bring your peace.
Let us remember people everywhere who are angry.
Those who see injustice and do not know how to help to put it right;
those who have been hurt but whose feelings have not been heard
and whose anger is turning to bitterness and hatred;
those who feel angry because of the way others are treated,
but do not know how to express their anger constructively.
To everyone who feels angry or carries a sense of injustice,
Loving God,
bring your peace.
Let us remember people everywhere who are happy
and contented with their lives, even in these difficult times.
Those who have found that the current restrictions
have given more time with their family,
or for recreational activities;
those who have had good news from those they love;
those who rejoice in the knowledge that they are loved by you.
May they not feel guilty because they feel happy
when others may not share their joy.
To everyone who feels joy and gladness,
Loving God,
bring your peace.
As we pause at the end of the day, we bring to you all that we are,
all our thoughts and feelings,
and we bring to you all those we have thought about during the day
and in our prayers tonight.
Calm troubled minds and hearts.
Share our joys, our sorrows and our anxieties.
Give us peace, hope and confidence to face the weeks which lie ahead.
We ask all these prayers in the name of Jesus Christ,
our Lord and Saviour.
Amen
Let us 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
I wish you all ‘Goodnight’.
May we all have a peaceful night’s rest.
Rosemary Kearsey
