Evening Prayers Friday, 7 August 2020
Good evening. It’s good to share this prayer time with you again this evening.
I’ve been reflecting lately on all the benefits I have received from the experience of the lockdown. Among other things, the lack of commitments in my diary has enabled me to really appreciate the comfort of my home. Lack of meetings has provided an opportunity to contact friends further away.
Having more time has allowed me to use my senses more fully. Like Katherine, I have noticed flowers opening and trees coming into leaf and bloom. I have smelt roses as I walked past other front gardens (or even other people’s food when I go out at particular times). I’ve noticed the increase in traffic noise since the lockdown was lifted, so I have had to listen more carefully to hear the birds – but they are still there and compete well at times. As W.H.Davies reminded us in his poem, Leisure, we need to take the time to stop and stare.
I tend to walk alone in the village – John gets most of his exercise in the garden. So this has also provided me with a quiet time for personal reflection. I am struck by how often my thoughts about other people and about those who need our prayers come to me through the words of familiar hymns. Many of these are ones I have known since childhood, but some very powerful ones have been written in more recent years.
This evening, I’m going to suggest that we listen to a recording of John Bell’s hymn ‘Christ’s is the world in which we move’, also referred to as, ‘A touching place’. I am also including the words here for you, so that we can listen and pray these words together. If you can, I suggest you allow images of the people referred to, to come into your mind as you listen or sing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgeYYCuQ9B8
Christ’s is the world in which we move;
Christ’s are the folk we’re summoned to love;
Christ’s is the voice which calls us to care,
and Christ is the one who meets us here.
To the lost Christ shows his face,
to the unloved he gives his embrace,
to those who cry in pain or disgrace
Christ makes, with his friends, a touching place.
Feel for the people we must avoid –
strange or bereaved or never employed.
Feel for the women and feel for the men
who fear that their living is all in vain.
Feel for the parents who’ve lost their child,
feel for the women whom men have defiled,
feel for the baby for whom there’s no breast,
and feel for the weary who find no rest.
Feel for the lives by life confused,
riddled with doubt, in loving abused;
feel for the lonely heart, conscious of sin,
which longs to be pure but fears to begin.
©1989 WGRG, Iona Community, Govan, Glasgow G51 3UU, Scotland.
With the words of the hymn still in our minds, we thank you, Father for the Iona Community, whose members are now spread throughout the world, living by the principles of justice, peace and the integrity of creation. We thank you for the influence their Christian faith has on the communities where they live and work.
Loving God, hear our prayer.
We cannot forget people affected by the devastating fire in Beirut. We pray for those who have lost family members or friends; those who have been injured; those trying to nurse the survivors; though the hospitals have been damaged; those who have lost their home. It is hard to imagine how the people must feel. Be with those that are dazed, those that are bereft, those who are exhausted, those that have no-one to turn to. Uphold them at this time when comfort seems unattainable and strengthen those who are trying to offer practical help.
Loving God, hear our prayer.
We pray for those groups of people mentioned so eloquently in John Bell’s hymn, that they may be touched by the lives of people who follow in your way as they try to live by Jesus’s example.
Loving God, hear our prayer.
We remember the words of Jesus from St Matthew’s Gospel:
‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
(Matthew:25v40).
Help us to follow your example too, looking to you for guidance in every aspect of our lives.
We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Now let us close 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, now and for ever. Amen.
Rosemary Kearsey
