Evening Prayer Wednesday, 25 November 2020
A Vision
By Wendell Berry
If we will have the wisdom to survive,
to stand like slow-growing trees
on a ruined place, renewing, enriching it,
if we will make our seasons welcome here,
asking not too much of earth or heaven,
then a long time after we are dead
the lives our lives prepare will live
here, their houses strongly placed
upon the valley sides, fields and gardens
rich in the windows.
The river will run
clear, as we never know it,
and over it, birdsong like a canopy.
On the levels of the hills will be
green meadows, stock bells in noon shade.
On the steeps where greed and ignorance cut down
the old forest, an old forest will stand,
its rich leaf-fall drifting on its roots.
The veins of forgotten springs will have opened.
Families will be singing in the fields.
In their voices they will hear a music
risen out of the ground. They will take
nothing from the ground they will not return,
whatever the grief at parting. Memory,
native to this valley, will spread over it
like a grove, and memory will grow
into legend, legend into song, song
into sacrament.
The abundance of this place,
the songs of its people and its birds,
will be health and wisdom and indwelling
light. This is no paradisal dream.
Its hardship is its possibility.
Good evening and welcome to Evening Prayers
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.
Breathe in
Breathe out
Be still…
When our faith is weak
you strengthen us,
when we lose our way
you rescue us,
when we fall into sin
you forgive us.
Gracious Father,
please remind us
as we forget,
that your love is
unconditional,
always moulding us
into what we could be,
always blessing us
that we might glorify you.
For love,
grace
and forgiveness,
we thank you.
Amen
Presence
I pause for a moment
and reflect on God’s life-giving presence
in every part of my body, in everything around me,
in the whole of my life.
Freedom
Everything has the potential to draw forth
from me a fuller love and life.
Yet my desires are often fixed,
caught, on illusions of fulfillment.
I ask that God, through my freedom
may orchestrate my desires
in a vibrant loving melody rich in harmony.
Consciousness
We are all pilgrims on a journey to you, Lord.
May we contemplate your time on earth,
and, with Your help, follow in your footsteps.
THE WORD OF GOD
James 3:13-17
Who is wise and understanding among you?
Show by your good life that your works are done
with gentleness born of wisdom.
But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts,
do not be boastful and false to the truth.
Such wisdom does not come down from above,
but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.
For where there is envy and selfish ambition,
there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.
But the wisdom from above is first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield,
full of mercy and good fruits,
without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.
WORDS OF WISDOM
I invite you to read Merton’s challenging words with willing mind and heart:
A “Christian nationalist” is one whose Christianity takes second place, and serves to justify a patriotism in whose eyes the nation can do no wrong. In such a case, it becomes “Christian faith” and “Christian heroism” to renounce even one’s Christian protest and to obey the dictates of the (unchristian) Nation without question. Instead of that Christian independence which realizes that the Nation itself may come under the higher judgment of God, there arises the notion of a “Christian” obedience in which the faithful are urged to accept the national purpose on the justification of any and every means. They renounce all judgment and choice in order to follow secular authority blindly since “the Government knows best.”. . .
The great question then is one of clarification. We can no longer afford to equate faith with the acceptance of myths about our nation, our society, or our technology; to equate hope with a naive confidence in our image of ourselves as the good guys against whom all the villains in the world are leagued in conspiracy; to equate love with a mindlessly compliant togetherness, a dimly lived and semi-radiant compulsiveness in work and play, invested by commercial artists with an aura of spurious joy. [1]
Richard again: While we can be grateful for any freedoms and privileges protected by our national governments, we cannot allow them to claim that they are themselves the foundational source of those rights. That role belongs to God! Our love and respect for human dignity must be extended to people of all nations, not just our own. I wrote this prayer almost ten years ago on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. We need the grace of universal solidarity to join the One God in our ever-expanding love for the world:
God of all races, nations, and religions,
You know that we cannot change others,
Nor can we change the past.
But we can change ourselves.
We can join You in changing our only
And common future where Love “reigns”
The same over all.
Help us not to say, “Lord, Lord” to any nationalist gods,
But to hear the One God of all the earth,
And to do God’s good thing for this One World.
Fr Richard Rohr
https://cac.org/one-god-of-the-earth-2020-11-25/
Copyright © 2018 by CAC. Used by permission of CAC. All rights reserved worldwide.
PRAYERS & 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.
Calm me, O Lord, as You stilled the storm.
Still me, O Lord, keep me from harm.
Let all the tumult within me cease.
Enfold me, Lord, in Your peace.
I will lie down this night with God,
and God will lie down with me;
I will lie down this night with Christ,
and Christ will lie down with me;
I will lie down this night with the Spirit,
and the Spirit will lie down with me;
God and Christ and the Spirit,
be lying down with me.
AMEN
The Blessing
This night and every night
grant to me light
This night and every night
grant to me peace
This night and every night
grant to me rest
This night and every night
grant to me grace
This night and every night
grant to me joy
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
Thank you, for join us. Goodnight and God bless.
Revd. Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga
