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Listen to or read a short service of prayer for the Thursday after the Third Sunday of Easter, 30 April 2020.
Preparation
O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
If I climb up to heaven, you are there;
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.
Praise
Risen Christ,
you filled your disciples with boldness and fresh hope:
strengthen us to proclaim your risen life
and fill us with your peace,
to the glory of God the Father.
Amen.
Psalm 66:7-8, 14-18
Bless our God, O you peoples;
make the voice of his praise to be heard,
Who holds our souls in life
and suffers not our feet to slip.
Come and listen, all you who fear God,
and I will tell you what he has done for my soul.
I called out to him with my mouth
and his praise was on my tongue.
If I had nursed evil in my heart,
the Lord would not have heard me,
But in truth God has heard me;
he has heeded the voice of my prayer.
Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer,
nor withheld his loving mercy from me.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now and shall be for ever. Amen.
Reading
Jesus said to the crowd, ‘No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’
John 6:44-51 (NRSV)
This is the word of the Lord.
Prayers
Let us pray to the Father through the Son in whom he has been revealed.
Cleanse the Church from all malice and dissension. Grant to your people the unity of purpose that will spread peace to others. Give to those you have called to your service grace to be ministers of the bread of life.
Look with compassion on the world where anger so often prevails over love, where false speech and evil words destroy human fellowship. Make all know the peace that is in Christ through his death for the life of the world.
In all our words, to families and friends, to neighbours and colleagues, help us to speak gently and with understanding. Bring reconciliation wherever in this community fellowship has been broken.
Have mercy on those whose lives are twisted by bitterness. All who cannot forgive others or cannot find freedom from personal guilt. Relieve them with the knowledge of redeeming love.
According to your promise, grant eternal life to those who have died in the faith of Christ. As they were strengthened by the bread of life in this world, grant them everlasting refreshment in your heavenly kingdom.
We pray through Christ who has called us to himself and will raise us up to eternal life.
God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be in my eyes, and in my looking;
God by in my mouth, and in my speaking;
God be in my heart, and in my thinking;
God be at mine end, and at my departing.
Amen.
Gathering our prayers and praises into one,
let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught us
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory
for ever and ever.
Amen.
The Conclusion
May the risen Christ give us his peace.
Alleluia. Amen.