Prayers for Evensong

On Wednesday, Radio 3's Choral Evensong came from Derby Cathedral.

 You can find the service on iPlayer, or it will be repeated today at 3pm.

 Here are the prayers I wrote for the service.  

The readings were Zechariah 7 and Mark 10.17-31
In peace, let us pray:

In the evening of the day,
we come to you, O God,
bringing those we have met, for your blessing,
our hurts for your healing,
our sins for your forgiveness,
our labours as our offering
and our lives as our worship;
we come to you through our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who became like us,
that we might become like him. Amen.

We pray for the church throughout the world, for Justin our Archbishop, for Alastair, Bishop of Derby, for the church here in this place and wherever this service is heard.

Lord Jesus, you give us the gift of eternal life;
keep us from the love of riches
and all that diverts us from your service;
strengthen those who are persecuted
for their faith;
and bring us all into your kingdom,
where the first shall be last
and the last shall be first;
for it is in your name we pray. Amen.

We pray for the world in which we live, for those living amidst conflict in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan or Ukraine; for all who live in poverty, without the basic necessities of life; and we pray for the leaders of the world, and especially for our Queen, Prime Minister and government.

God of the nations,
We thank you for the world that you created;
give true judgements to our leaders,
and enlarge our hearts;
that we may comfort the widowed,
care for the orphaned,
shelter the aliens,
and feed those who are poor;
we ask this in the name of Jesus Christ,
whose compassion knows no boundaries.
Amen.

We pray for those we know who are in need or trouble, for those who are sick and in hospital, and for all whose loved ones have died.

God of life,
with you all things are possible;
we bring before you all who have lost homes,
all who are parted from mothers, fathers,
brothers, sisters or children,
all who are sick, and all who grieve;
bring comfort to those
for whom it seems impossible,
bring healing to those who need your touch,
and bring all your servants
to the life of your eternal kingdom,
we ask this in the name of
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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