Vespers - 24 February 2019


Lord, mighty and strong, a refuge in the storm and a shelter in the squall – you see clearly through the fog of human confusion, the stifling smoke of worry, the crushing blanket of darkness of depression - you set captives free, open prison doors and release the entrapped, lift up the oppressed and put the oppressors down. O Lord, mighty and strong, liberating and loving: hear us as we pray for these..... You see clearly what is going on, you hear the groans, know the tears, understand the fears and worries, are wise to the traps. Move in their lives and over their circumstances and set them free – free from their own sins and the sins of others; free from the hurt and pain; free from their own narrow confinements. Set them up in a broad place in full daylight and the fresh air. Strengthen the weak hands and feeble knees; make them run and not grow weary, to walk and not faint. Raise them up on Eagle's wings. O Lord, hear our prayer.

Lord, mighty and strong, compassionate and caring, you mind those who are in real need, and so we pray for these… furnish them with resilience and strength, fortitude and faith, and raise them up that they may sing your praises the rest of their days. O Lord, hear our prayer.

For Christ’s Church – Drawn from Zechariah 7-8
O LORD of hosts, who has promised to hear your people, unless they refuse to hear you, “as I called, and they would not hear, so they called and I would not hear” (Zechariah 7.13; see also Isaiah 59.1-4 and 1 Peter 3.7): please turn our hearts and the hearts of all your people to hear and heed you. O Lord, hear our prayer.

O LORD of hosts, who sometimes disciplines your people by creating disharmony and disunity, “for I set every man against his neighbor” (Zechariah 8.11) – forgive us; bring us to love anew truth and peace (8.19); turn our seasons of mourning and fasting into joy, gladness, and cheerfulness; save us (8.7, 13); and restore us so that there “shall be a sowing of peace” (8.12). O Lord, hear our prayer.

O LORD of hosts, who desires us to be your people and you to be our God in faithfulness and in righteousness (8.8); bring us to speak the truth to one another; to render in our gates judgments that are true and make for peace; to not devise evil in our hearts against one another and not to love false oaths – all of which you hate (8.16-17). O Lord, hear our prayer.

O LORD of hosts, may we fear not, and may our hands be strong for you, to you, and in your work (8.9, 13). O LORD, hear our prayer, and let our cry come unto you. O Lord, hear our prayer.

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