Evening Prayer Friday, 9 October 2020
Last Sunday, we celebrated Harvest. I don’t know how you felt, but if, like me, you joined the service on the internet, rather than in church, it may have seemed very strange not to be in the Worship Area, looking towards a Harvest display. Before we moved to Milton Keynes thirty years ago, I had always lived in suburbia. Newton Longville, where we settled, is the closest I’ve ever been to living in the countryside. Yet Harvest services have always been special to me. As a child, it meant helping to decorate the church, writing ‘Harvest Thanksgiving’ in runner beans on the windowsill and taking beautifully decorated baskets of fruit from Sunday School to sick and elderly church members, and neighbours who might appreciate them. At university, in the late sixties, our MethSoc Group was proud to lead Harvest Services which focused on the needs of the hungry in what we then called Third World countries. Nowadays, I’m always curious to discover whether the preacher will be able to shed new light on the theme. Thank you, Revd George, for your message on Sunday morning, which reminded us of our responsibility to care for our world. So, as we thank God for the harvest, we say, ‘Thank you’, too, for the world we live in, the people God has given us to share it with and every gift that God showers on us, day by day.
Let us pray:
Loving God, we thank you for all the gifts you have given to us –
our family and friends, our health and happiness,
our homes and all the pleasures of life which we enjoy.
There are times when we neglect or misuse those gifts, and for this, we are truly sorry.
We pray that we may draw closer to you, day by day,
so that we listen more carefully when you speak to us.
Guide our thinking, our actions and the things we say.
When we neglect your world or misuse your gifts, remind us of all you have done for us.
Teach us to use our time and talents for the benefit of all
and avoid any selfish deeds or wasted opportunities.
We thank you for the gifts and talents we have been given, which enrich our lives.
Help us to use these creatively in your service,
not taking them for granted or using them for purely selfish ends.
We thank you that you are always by our side,
responding when we call on you, and watching over us,
even when we forget you are there.
And so we ask you to guide us in the way we go,
guide our thoughts and what we say and guide our decision-making.
We pray for those who do not know you or who chose to live their lives without a close relationship with you.
We pray that they may have the chance to hear your word and respond to it.
We know that we have a responsibility to help to spread your word.
May we be alert to the opportunities which come our way
to share our knowledge of you with others and to demonstrate your love in action.
We pray for all the Cornerstone volunteers, who help to keep our building open.
We remember, especially, those who have taken on extra duties in these difficult times,
when some of those who used to serve in this way have not been able to continue.
May they find fulfilment in the service they offer and appreciation from those who come to use our building.
We pray for our ministers, as they continue to serve us in new ways.
Guide and strengthen them in all they do.
We pray for our Church Meeting on Sunday.
May we truly seek to hear your voice and do your will,
so that the decisions that are taken will guide our church in the way which you want us to go.
We conclude our prayer time this evening with a harvest hymn.
Please click on the link below, and, if you feel able join the singing of ‘For the fruits of all creation, thanks be to God’.
For the fruit of all creation,
thanks be to God.
for God’s gifts to every nation,
thanks be to God.
For the ploughing, sowing, reaping,
silent growth while we are sleeping,
future needs in earth’s safekeeping,
thanks be to God.
In the just reward of labour,
God’s will is done.
In the help we give our neighbour,
God’s will is done.
In our worldwide task of caring
for the hungry and despairing,
in the harvests we are sharing,
God’s will is done.
For the harvests of the Spirit,
thanks be to God.
For the good we all inherit,
thanks be to God.
For the wonders that astound us,
for the truths that still confound us,
most of all that love has found us,
thanks be to God.
And now, let us join in 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
