There’s some wonderful treasures to be found in the old Church of England Book of Common Prayer from 1662. It is not used much in Australia these days except for the odd service here and there.
One such service at my church is Evening Prayer and I was recently struck by an Evening Collect (prayer) that says,
Be present, merciful God, and protect us through the hours of this night: that we, who are wearied by the changes and chances of this fleeting world, may rest on your eternal changelessness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
How appropriate is this to our present times, I thought.We are ‘wearied’.
So much has been happening
We don’t need to look far to find the many uncertainties and unexpected events in today’s world, struggling as it is with millions of dislocated people seeking refuge and coping with cruel politics and war and catastrophic natural disasters.
Adding to our feelings of unease are changing weather patterns, droughts and fires and floods. And of course, COVID – the pandemic. Just when we think we are coming out of it and life begins to look like assuming some kind of normality, there’s a surge of infections from ever changing variants of the virus.
Closer to home we have had serious health issues and sudden deaths. Many of those unexpected ‘curved balls’ have been tossed around. Everything is so uncertain – changes and chances.
Everything that is, except God’s eternal changelessness
He is always with us, always, even when things look really dire and hopeless. That’s not just because he says so:
Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.Psalm 73:23
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.Matthew 28:20
There have been times when I have been unwell and anxious, in hospital or recuperating or in the midst of making major decisions, and at those extreme times I have felt Christ’s closeness and being held ‘by my right hand’. Sometimes the prayer of others has been almost tangible.
I need to keep reminding myself that I can depend on his eternal presence and changelessness. We all need to remember this Collect as we cope with the ‘changes and chances of this fleeting world’.