Evening Prayer Wednesday, 4 November 2020

GET ORGANISED!
By Douglas Malloch

There may be nothing wrong with you,
The way you live, the work you do,
But I can very plainly see,
Exactly what is wrong with me.

It isn’t that I’m indolent,
Or dodging duty by intent;
I work as hard as anyone,
And yet I get so little done.

The morning goes, the noon is here,
Before I know the night is near,
And all around me, I regret
Are things I haven’t finished yet.

If I could just get organised.
I often times have realised,
Not all that matters is the man.
The man must also have a plan

With you, there may be nothing wrong,
But here’s my trouble right along.
I do things that don’t amount,
To very much, of no account

They really seem important though,
Until I let the matters go.
I nibble this, I nibble that,
But I never finish what I’m at.

I work as hard as anyone,
And yet I get so little done.
I’d do so much you’d be surprised,
If I could just get organised!

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

Lord, you are always there
waiting for me.
May I never be too busy to
find time to spend in your presence.

Freedom

I try to let go of concerns and worries
that may be dragging me down at this present moment.
I place any concerns I have in Gods hands
– at least for these few minutes of prayer.

Consciousness

I remind myself that I am in your presence, O Lord.
I will take refuge in your loving heart.
You are my strength in times of weakness.
You are my comforter in times of sorrow.

THE WORD OF GOD 

Luke 11:38-42   

The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner.
Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside
of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.
You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also?
So give for alms those things that are within;
and see, everything will be clean for you.
‘But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs
of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God;
it is these you ought to have practised,
without neglecting the others. 

WORDS OF WISDOM 

As a people, we are at a crossover moment. It is a call to all of us to be our best, our least superficial, our most serious about what it means to be a Christian as well as a citizen. . . .

Where in the midst of such polarization and national disunity is even the hope of oneing, of integrating the social with what we say are our spiritual selves? . . .

Even the ghost of an answer makes serious spiritual demands on us all: To heal such division means that we are obliged to search out and identify our own personal value system. It requires us to admit to ourselves what it is that really drives our individual social decisions, our votes, our political alliances. Is it the need to look powerful? The desire for personal control? . . . Do we have the courage to confront the debased with the ideal—even in the face of ridicule and recrimination—or is cowardice our secret spiritual sickness? In that case, our national health can only get worse.

A national cure also surely demands that we begin to see tradition as a call to return to the best of the past, not a burden to be overcome in order to secure the best of the present. It is the sense of a commonly held tradition of the common good—once a strong part of the American past—that we clearly lack in the present. . . .

[We must] make “Love one another as I have loved you” (see John 13:34) the foundation of national respect, the standard of our national discernment, the bedrock of both our personal relationships and a civilized society. . . .

To be one, we don’t need one party, one program, one set of policies. What could be duller, more stagnant, more destructive of the soulfulness it takes to create and preserve the best of the human enterprise than such a narrow-minded view of planetary life?  What we need is one heart for the world at large, a single-minded commitment to this “more perfect union,” and one national soul, large enough to listen to one another for the sake of the planet—for the sake of us all.

So where can we look for oneing in the political arena? Only within the confines of our own hearts. Politics—government—does not exist for itself and, if it does, that is precisely when it becomes at least death-dealing if not entirely evil. . . .

In the end, politics is nothing more than an instrument of social good and human development. It is meant to be the right arm of those whose souls have melted into God.

Sister Joan Chittister 

https://cac.org/a-call-to-be-one-2020-11-04/
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 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOxqAxoxDNg

Thank you for join us…Goodnight and God bless…adios!

Revd. Ernesto Lozada-Uzuiaga