Evening Prayer Monday, 7 June 2021
UNTITLED
by Rumi
The minute I heard my first love story
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.
Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.
They’re in each other all along.
Good evening and welcome to Evening Prayer
The Lord almighty grant us a quiet night and a perfect end.
Amen.
Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth
That this evening may be holy, good and peaceful,
let us pray with one heart and mind.
Silence is kept.
As our evening prayer rises before you,
O God, so may your mercy come down upon us
to cleanse our hearts and set us free to sing
your praise now and for ever.
Amen.
Presence
I pause for a moment, aware that God is here.
I think of how everything around me,
the air I breathe, my whole body,
is tingling with the the presence of God.
Freedom
Lord, grant me the grace to be free from the excesses of this life.
Let me not get caught up with the desire for wealth.
Keep my heart and mind free to love and serve you.
Consciousness
Sometimes I get overwhelmed by the cares of this world.
At times like these may I be aware
of the comfort of your Presence,
Your infinite love for me.
THE WORD OF GOD
Mark 12:35-37
While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he said, ‘How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David? David himself, by the Holy Spirit, declared, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.” David himself calls him Lord; so how can he be his son?’ And the large crowd was listening to him with delight.
WORDS OF WISDOM
We have not accepted evolution as our story. We treat evolution as a conversational theory or something that belongs to science, as if science is something separate from us and outside our range of experience. Politically, we have fiefdoms and kingdoms; socially, we have tribes and cults; religiously, we have hierarchy and patriarchy. There is nothing [structurally] that sustains, supports, or nurtures human evolution.
By evolution, I mean simply that change is integral to life. We are becoming something that is not yet known. To live in evolution is to let go of structures that prevent convergence and deepening of consciousness and assume new structures that are consonant with creativity, inspiration, and development.
Evolution requires trust in the process of life itself. There is a power at the heart of life that is divine and lovable. In a sense we are challenged to lean into life’s changing patterns and attend to the new patterns that are emerging in our midst. To live in openness to the future is to live with a sense of creativity and participation, to use our gifts for the sake of the whole by sharing them with others.
There is something about this word evolution that frightens people, as if evolution renders us less human or less special as human. We do not talk in terms of evolution; nor do we think in terms of evolution. Our everyday lives are conceived as static and fixed, as if it has always been this way and should always remain this way. But this type of thinking is completely erroneous. . . .
We need to get on board with evolution. If we get nothing else straight about our present moment, it should be this: stability is an illusion. The ancient wisdom of Heraclitus reminds us of life’s endless activity: The only thing that is permanent is impermanence. No one steps in the same river twice. If there is no permanence in the present, then the only real stability is the future. The Buddha intuitively grasped the notion of evolution by advocating detachment, not necessarily the act of giving up the things of this world, but rather accepting and being consciously aware that nothing is permanent. So too, Francis of Assisi taught his disciples the principle of dispossession, not living without things but without possessing things. . . .
It is time to come together to work for what we share together, the future, into which we are being fearfully but irresistibly drawn. This is the true test of our faith, what we really believe in, because God is the power of the future.
Ilia Delio
https://cac.org/accepting-evolution-as-our-story-2021-06-04/
Copyright © 2021 by CAC. Used by permission of CAC. All rights reserved worldwide.
PRAYERS AND INTERCESSIONS
We pray for the world…
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
We pray for the universal church of Christ…
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
We pray for one another and all those known to us…
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
As our Saviour taught us, so we pray
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.
Silence….
Visit this place, O Lord,
we pray, and drive far from it the snares of the enemy;
may your holy angels dwell with us and guard us in peace,
and may your blessing be always upon us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
See that you are at peace among yourselves,
my children, and love one another.
Follow the example of the wise and good and God
will comfort you and help you, both in this
world and in the world which is to come.
Amen
THE BLESSINGS
May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.
Amen
Thank you for join us!
Revd. Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga
