Evening Prayers Tuesday, 2 February 2021
Unbreakable Links
By Mary Oliver
I would say that there exist a thousand unbreakable links between
each of us and everything else, and that our dignity and our chances are one.
The farthest star and the mud at our feet are a family;
and there is no decency or sense in honoring one thing,
or a few things, and then closing the list.
The pine tree, the leopard, the Platte River, and ourselves
– we are at risk together, or we are on our way
to a sustainable world together.
We are each other’s destiny.
Good evening and welcome to Evening Prayer
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
Breathe in
Breathe out
Be still…
Come, O Spirit of God,
and make within us your dwelling place and home.
May our darkness be dispelled by your light,
and our troubles calmed by your peace;
may all evil be redeemed by your love,
all pain transformed through the suffering of Christ,
and all dying glorified in his risen life.
Amen.
Presence
Lord, help me to be fully alive to your Holy presence.
Enfold me in your love.
Let my heart become one with yours.
Freedom
I try to let go of any prejudices and narrow mindedness
That may be clouding my vision at this present moment.
I hand them over to God’s merciful care,
So I can pray in freedom at this time.
Consciousness
Conscious of your presence, Lord,
I look over my recent past.
Let me be honest with myself about how I’ve been
And what I’ve done,
Because I know you love truth in the heart
And accept me just as I am.
THE WORD OF GOD
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant,
and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill,
and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn,
and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones,
and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace,
and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek,
and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence,
and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
WORDS OF WISDOM
German theologian Dorothee Sölle (1929–2003) describes how seeing with God’s eyes, hearing with God’s ears, and acting with God’s passion for justice is a truly liberating experience that benefits the entire community. Sölle writes:
In the sense of theology that liberates, the soul that is united with God sees the world with God’s eyes. That soul, like God, sees what otherwise is rendered invisible and irrelevant. It hears the whimpering of starving children and does not let itself be diverted from real misery, becoming one with God in perceiving and understanding as well as in acting. For people in the slums, redemption does not consist of some great and far removed actor ending the misery of the oppressed. Rather, in coming so very close, that far-near one acts in and through those who have become one with that actor. In liberating movements, the mystical eye sees God at work: seeing, hearing, acting, even in forms that are utterly secular. In the contingency of literacy programs, or collaboration in building a school, God’s action is manifest. It is a mysticism of wide-open eyes. . . .
What happens really in the soul’s union with God in terms of liberation and of healing? It is an exercise in seeing how God sees, the perception of what is little and unimportant; it is listening to the cry of God’s children who are in slavery in Egypt. God calls upon the soul to give away its own ears and eyes and to let itself be given those of God. Only they who hear with other ears can speak with the mouth of God. God sees what elsewhere is rendered invisible and is of no relevance. Who other than God sees the poor and hears their cry? To use “God’s senses” does not mean simply turning inward but becoming free for a different way of living life: See what God sees! Hear what God hears! Laugh where God laughs! Cry where God cries!
Allowing God to fully inhabit our senses does not mean we close ourselves off from the world but open ourselves more fully to it. We are free to be fully ourselves but not to exist only forourselves. We are free to become Christ in the world to the same extent that we recognize the Christ in others, especially the last and the least.
Fr. Richard Rohr
https://cac.org/free-to-serve-others-2021-01-22/
Copyright © 2018 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.
Final Prayer
Abide with us, Lord, for it is evening,
and day is drawing to a close.
Abide with us and with
your whole Church,
in the evening of the day,
in the evening of life,
in the evening of the world;
abide with us and with all
your faithful ones, O Lord,
in time and in eternity.
Amen.
THE BLESSING
Keep us, good Lord,
under the shadow of your mercy.
Sustain and support the anxious,
be with those who care for the sick,
and lift up all who are brought low;
that we may find comfort
knowing that nothing can separate us from your love
+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Thank you for join us. Goodnight and God bless.
Revd. Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga
