Rev. Jan Buxton Wade*
This is my song, oh God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrine.
But other hearts and other lands are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and pure mine.
O God of All Nations, the poet speaks truth as we acknowledge our land comes to us as a gift of grace, entrusted to our care. Indeed, as we celebrate our independence this week, we lift our hands and hearts in thanksgiving to you, for our country and for its people, for its vastness, its rich diversity and resources to nourish and sustain. May we join in this song of homage, knowing that our freedoms were forged by others willing to lay both livelihoods and lives on the line for liberty’s sake. Yes, we cherish our nation, but we remember that other hearts burn just as deeply with love of their homelands. Your dream is for all peoples to know the freedoms we have inherited. So guard us, we pray, lest we cross the threshold to worship of America. May we heed the words of the prophet: O God, others have ruled over us, but we worship you alone! (Is. 26:13).
My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,
and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine,
but other lands have sunlight too and clover,
and skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
Oh, hear my song, oh God of all the nations,
a song of peace for their land and for mine.
O God of All Nations, we confess that despite all you have done for our states united, our history haunts us, for it brims with the sordid parts of our past. No longer dare we brush aside our longtime exploitation of persons of color, our indifference to the plight of the weak and poor, our love affair with money, our apathy in correcting inequalities, our tolerance for violence, and our hunger for world supremacy at all costs. Our Savior spoke of humility, kindness, and love for the stranger. His was a peaceful walk, but we have soiled Jesus’ path with our own selfishness. Lord have mercy upon us once again. Point us toward that new, untainted thoroughfare, and we will move forward with you as our resilient guide.
O God of All Nations, as we depend upon you as our ultimate sustenance, may our very breaths this day become prayers of healing and peace for those across the globe who are hungry or thirsting, threatened, nearing death, and in need of your holy counsel. We place our own prayers beside our brothers and sisters in every land who lift their private yearnings toward the gates of heaven:
- Thankful for prayers: Niece’s July 1 cancer surgery went well
- Gratitude: Family arrived safely home from Europe on Monday
- Mother with ovarian cancer feels our prayer support
- Thankful a Thursday surgery was successful
- Member grateful for church support in dealing w a family death
- Family gives thanks for a daughter’s engagement
- Five families celebrate safe July 4 celebrations with family
- Mother in heart failure now improved, prayers appreciated
- Gratitude for Stephen Ministers supporting those who struggle
- Resilience for a son searching for a healthy work environment
- Healing of a young mother suffering with shingles
- Prayers for unborn nephew, that he may receive the best of care
- Prayers for two adult sons grieving death of fathers
- Member in deep depression, for healing and reassurance
- Safety & success: Medical team helping women & children in Namibia
- Safe delivery of baby boy, mother with complications
- Safety & resilience for friend boldly speaking out for children’s safety in classrooms & for protection of voter rights
- Strength, faith, & hope for aunt entering new phase of cancer treatment
- God’s presence with Highland Park shooting victims & their families
- All working to bring about the end of the Ukrainian crisis
- Patience, continued humor, healing for an uncle recovering from a stroke
- Hope & healing for a mother with advanced eye disease
- Solace for daughter grieving the recent death of her mother
- Continued courage for mother entering chemotherapy
As those who follow the Risen Christ, we believe your loving hand will ever be upon us. And we shall not forget that our true citizenship is in the kingdom of heaven, our eternal home.
This is my prayer, O Lord of all earth’s kingdoms:
Thy kingdom come; on earth thy will be done.
Let Christ be lifted up till all shall serve him,
and hearts united learn to live as one.
O hear my prayer, thou God of all the nations;
Myself I give thee, let thy will be done.
Amen.
*Verses excerpted from hymn, O God of Every Nation, authored by William W. Reid, Jr. and Georgia Harkness, UMC Hymnal, Hope Publishing, 1958, 1989.
All are welcome at Church Street! We believe every person is of sacred worth and created in God’s image. We welcome and celebrate the gifts God has given to all persons without regard to race, color, national origin, ethnicity, age, gender, disability, status, economic condition, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religious affiliation. We respect diversity of opinion and expressions of Christian faith. We believe God loves everyone unconditionally! As God loves us, so let us love and serve in the name of Christ.
Weekly Prayer – August 24, 2022
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of August 24, 2022
Rev. Tim Best
We give you great thanks for the gift of rest and renewal in your Son Jesus. Guide our lives that we might find patterns of liberation and renewal from all those forces that when not controlled and bounded by your love bind and control us. Grant us your peace that our spirits might be cured of what ails us and we might stand tall with dignity and love.
Heal me, hands of Jesus!
Merciful Lord,
Heal and comfort those who suffer in body and spirit. We pray for those who grieve. May you walk alongside them and help them to find rest in the promise of resurrection. We ask for healing for all recovering from injury or operations. May they have access to good Doctors, caring and qualified nurses, and attentive caregivers. Awaken our hearts that where there is need your church may be at work to care, advocate, and support. Bless all the suffering neighbors and friends that we name before you in our hearts.
Heal me, hands of Jesus!
Almighty God,
You fashioned all things out of nothing. Let us rejoice in the gifts of your creation and show care for all life that dwells upon the earth, that swims in the seas, that lives under the earth, or fills the skies. As you give us Sabbath that we might know freedom from our labors and our cares, may we grant rest to the earth and all creatures from toil and use. Help us to rejoice in the beauty of all that you have made and to use all resources well and to your glory.
Heal our earth, O Lord!
Ruler of all things,
We pray for our community, our state, and our nation. Grant your wisdom and compassion to those who make decisions on behalf of others and for the sake of whole communities. We pray for Mayors Kincannon and Jacobs. We pray for governor Lee and all state legislators. We pray for all senators and members of the house of representatives. We pray for President Biden. We pray for the leaders of all the nations, those we consider friends and those we think of as enemies. Guide your church in our work to be peace within our community and within the world.
Heal our communities, O Lord!
Loving Father,
Lord in your mercy… God of mercy and healing, you who hear the cries of those in need, receive these petitions of your people that all who are troubled may know peace, comfort, and courage.
We pray for …
We give thanks for …
Life-giving God, heal our lives, that we may acknowledge your wonderful deeds and offer you thanks from generation to generation through Jesus Christ our Lord as we pray that prayer he taught us, praying…
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, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
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Weekly Prayer – August 17, 2022
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of August 17, 2022
Rev. Jan Buxton Wade
You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens,
with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them;
you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you. (Nehemiah 9:6)
Vibrant Framer of the Universe, the shadows shift as the wind makes its way through the trees, rearranging the path of clouds, delicate and dense alike. Truly your name is proclaimed with each stirring of the heavens above. Such stirrings echo your Spirit’s soaring over the void to create light and life. In richness and variety you clothed your creation, a masterpiece of color and texture no human mind could fathom. By the solace our earth offers, by its freshness that brings peace, by its richness that feeds body and soul, we are more than blessed.
O Lord, we praise you!
Merciful Creator, you planted us within your world to love and to tend, yet we confess that through both greed and ignorance we have maimed your astonishing creation, our blessed inheritance. We have been careless in polluting the pure air, water, soil that were gifted us, forgetting you intended this as our common home, sufficient to sustain all peoples. Will this remain our legacy – always taking more than we give? We weep at the thought. Open our eyes and our hearts, we pray, to behold the harm we have caused; move us to cherish the resources we have neglected and to join in the deliberate act of restoration—for the world’s sake and for your glory.
O Lord, forgive us!
Healing Hand, in many ways, we are like the bent-over woman whom Jesus restored on the sabbath, staring at our own feet, thinking it impossible to change existing circumstances. But you, O Lord, are in the business of re-creating and you call us forth to be a new creation. Show us, through that same holy healing power, that you can straighten what is bent in body and soul, aligning our commitment with your own vision. Even if our first steps are hesitant, you will strengthen us to correct the wrongs we have inflicted upon your people and your good earth. Point us and move us into your future, even if it means giving up our dreams of wealth and progress.
O Lord, heal us!
And now, Faithful One, we turn our thoughts to the myriad signs of graciousness that have come our way throughout these recent days, and we also share the deepest concerns of your people of the Church Street community:
We pray for …
Prayers of thanksgiving for …
Reclaiming Spirit, move among us as we take our rest this evening, for we know we serve a God whose mercy never fails. Bind our hearts together as we sleep, that we might rise straight and tall, refreshed to follow and to serve, always praying as we were taught by Jesus:
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, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
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Weekly Prayer – August 10, 2022
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of August 10, 2022
Rev. Jan Buxton Wade
O God of Every Place and Time, when we chance to turn to you, we are assured your listening ears are attuned to our deepest needs and desires. How blessed are we by such favor! You merely ask us, in turn, to just as earnestly listen to your voice that speaks to us throughout our days. We must confess, however, that we seldom reciprocate in these uncertain times. Perhaps, more than anything else, it is our fear that feeds our reluctance to listen.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Because we fear our own poverty, we spend our time clutching our possessions. Because we fear being known for who we truly are, we use our time cultivating that preferred image of ourselves. Because we fear appearing helpless, we pretend we don’t need the help others may offer. Because we fear the future, we exhaust precious hours in secret handwringing. Slow us down, O Attentive One, and calm our souls, we pray. Lean close and whisper that our fears are but a foolish buffer to an authentic relationship with you. Never cease your tender wooing, we pray. We have ears to hear, may we learn to listen!
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
O Spirit of Life, by confessing our own preoccupation with ourselves, we realize how soundly you have grounded us in your life-giving grace. You have given us our church, our home away from home, our commission to serve, our avenue to spiritual renewal. You have honored us with the privilege of regularly partaking of Holy Communion, a tangible reminder that we are members of the body of Christ, called to share the burdens of others. And when we share in this way, may it be a sign that we are also bearing the cross of Jesus.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Knowing that you help us bear all our trials and also take delight in our joy, we name these particular petitions that have been offered recently by members of our Church Street family:
We pray for…
We pray with thanksgiving for…
And now, stripping away every pretense that would block us from you, O God Beyond Place and Time, we lay our earnest prayers at the feet of your Blessed Son, using the ancient, yet most powerful words he 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, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
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August Update
YouthKick-Off Recap
On Sunday night, we started our year with a time of fellowship, celebration, and worship. It was such a joy to look toward the year ahead! Many students shared about why Youth Ministry matters to them – they helped us all remember the importance of community and pursuing our faith together.
At the close of the night, there was an absolute downpour. In case you don’t know this about me, I simply love rain. There are about a million reasons why, but top of the list is the way it reminds me of God’s grace and provision. In Hosea 6:3, scripture says, “He will come to us like rain.” And I couldn’t help but see that quick summer shower as a promise of God’s goodness as we step into a new year together. Our God often operates with abundance, and after the rain had stopped, there were rainbows – another tangible reminder of Presence and Promise.
I’m going into the year hopeful and expectant. I hope you are, too.
Jenny
Football Parking Fundraiser
For each of Tennessee’s home football games, we have the incredible opportunity to park cars on our campus and raise money for our Youth Department and Youth Choir. Each weekend, we tithe (give 10%) of our earnings to a Parking Lot Maintenance fund, and the remaining is divided evenly between the two groups.
It requires a significant amount of volunteer support to make this fundraiser work, and we ask all families to volunteer for at least two shifts during the season. Please use the link below to sign up and learn more.
Football Parking Sign-Up
Parent Survey
Parents, please use the survey below share with us some helpful information at the start of the year. This survey includes contact info, volunteer sign-ups, and a place to share with us anything that would be helpful in serving your family at the start of the year.
In order for our Youth Department to operate to the best of its ability, we rely on the generous support of volunteers to make most of our activities happen. From Sunday school to SLA, NightLife to Senior Sunday, many hands make for light work. We would so appreciate you joining us in ministry as we serve your students this year!
Parent Survey
Annual Release Form
Each year, we ask every student to complete an Annual Release Form. This acts as our medical and liability form for all of our events. Please complete this form for every student in your family!
Annual Release Form
Breakfast & Dinner Sign-Ups
Each Sunday, we serve our students breakfast and lunch. We ask families to volunteer to help make these meals happen! The sign-ups are below. If every family signs up for one breakfast and one dinner each, we will have nearly every week covered!
Breakfast Sign-Up
Dinner Sign-Up
Weekly Prayer – August 3, 2022
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of August 3, 2022
Rev. Jan Buxton Wade*
Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of Heav’n to earth come down;
Fix in us thy humble dwelling; all thy faithful mercies crown!
Jesus, Thou art all compassion; pure unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation, enter every trembling heart.
Ah, Love Divine, our hearts indeed do tremble, for these are anxious days. Governments are at odds, the language of war and retaliation is prolific. Our own nation’s leaders seem to work at cross purposes, their bickering aired around the world. We have sullied our good earth and now in remorse we pay the price of our short sightedness: floods, fire, famine and drought are visited upon those most vulnerable. We have all but become comfortable with bloodshed and brutality in our streets and communities. We have abandoned our churches and have not lived up to our vows of faithful presence and witness. You have made us to be beacons, disciples of your unbounded love, O Lord, yet we have slipped far from your holy aim. Clear away our inner doubt and distrust, that there might be sufficient room to build your forever dwelling place. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.
Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit into every troubled breast!
Let us all in Thee inherit; let us find that second rest.
Take away our bent to sinning; Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its beginning, set our hearts at liberty.
Loving Spirit, breathe your awakening spirit into our troubled souls. Stir us from the lethargy that whispers everything is out of our hands, for scripture assures us that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Give us courage to plant our feet securely upon your pure and steady rock of grace, believing your own possibilities will unfold if we remain steadfast. Gird us with purpose, we pray, that we might walk unflinching, staring down those prevalent forces of evil, taking a stand for justice in our community and in our world. Alpha and Omega, we depend upon you to give us what we need to respond to the crises of our age, serving our neighbors as ourselves.
Come, Almighty to deliver, let us all Thy life receive;
Suddenly return, and never, nevermore Thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing, serve Thee as Thy hosts above,
Pray and praise Thee without ceasing, glory in Thy perfect love.
Almighty Deliverer, you offer us fulness of life and why we so often take this gift for granted remains an enigma, even to ourselves. Plant anew in our hearts that longing for community, the realization that we, as a body of believers, personally need one another. Knit us together again, we pray, that we might be known as the body of Christ, upholding one another for your work in our world. And even as you watch over us, we ask that your grace would be manifest in the lives of these who submit their most recent prayers and thanksgivings:
Finish, then, Thy new creation; pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see Thy great salvation perfectly restored in Thee;
Changed from glory into glory, till in Heav’n we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before Thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise.
Help us to trust, Love Divine, that your love exceeds all others, and that you are guiding, leading, and infusing us with a power that always surprises us. Move us, then, from glory into glory until you welcome us one glad day into your eternal realm. And there, we shall join that ageless chorus in singing praises to your Resurrected Son, who instructed us to pray:
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, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
Have a prayer request?
Summer Wrap-Up
YouthPrepping for the School Year
It’s hard to believe we are already at the end of summer! Some of our students have already started back, some begin Monday, some start later in August – but the time to shift gear towards school is here.
As we all start new rhythms of the year, I hope you plan to be a part of our youth ministry activities each week. We are going to have a great year of study, fellowship, and worship. And I don’t want you to miss out!
Below are some upcoming dates to mark on you calendar! More to come.
August 14 – Promotion Sunday (9:30-10:45 AM)
August 21 – Youth Kick-Off (5:00-7:00 PM)
August 28 – First NightLife (5:00-7:00 PM)
Kick-Off Registration
Sunday School This Week
During Sunday school this week, we have a special hospitality project we are working on! We want every member of our youth roster to feel welcomed and included. So, we will be writing personal notes to everyone as part of our invitation to the Kick-Off. We need lots of hands to make this happen! We’d love for you to be a part of it.
P.S. Fresh donuts will be waiting for you!!
Weekly Prayer – July 27, 2022
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of July 27, 2022
Rev. Jan Buxton Wade
Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
We do rejoice, O One worthy of all praising! We delight in all that you have created for our benefit, for our sustenance, and for our pleasure. Each surging stream, twittering bird, or boxwood bending in the breeze reminds us of the fragility of such holy gifts. Share with us you message, O Magnanimous God, that it isn’t too late to repay your love with our grateful stewardship. Our bodies, too, these earthly tents with all their intricacies and abilities, are blessed offerings from your holy hand. We acknowledge the privilege of walking upon the earth, to be part of the human race, for the freedoms our nation provides, for all who came before us as models of the faith, and for holy scripture which reminds us to whom we belong.
Holy Lord, receive our prayer.
You meet us, O Christ, in our shadows and sorrow, and because of your illuminating love, we see how easily we are drawn into the dark web of error. We have routinely closed our ears to the cries of the hurting around us. We have kept a safe distance, unavailable to those in mourning, separated from the homeless, the betrayed, the despairing. We have forgotten that the grace you have lavished upon us is to be shared – your means of drawing us nearer to one another. Guide us through the thick vale of detachment, we pray, that we might emerge as tested light-bearers, whose actions link us securely with our brothers and sisters near and far. Our pains and theirs may be different, but our need for your healing grace is the same for all. We would be conduits of that grace.
Holy Lord, receive our prayer.
The Psalmist says all who seek refuge from you, O Lord, you will shelter under your wide wings. Though words are rarely adequate to express our inner joys and desires, fears and perils, we remember each of these who most recently seek your refuge. You are acquainted with each situation already, yet receive these appeals and thanksgivings anew from your people at Church Street who count you as their Sanctuary and Shelter:
At the end of this day, may we look back and see how your grace has sustained us, how you have steadied us and have kept our feet from falling. And, as we turn this day page, now finished, may what little good we have done be counted for your glory and for the abiding mercy of our Savior Jesus, who taught us to pray in this way:
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, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
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Weekly Prayer – July 20, 2022
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of July 20, 2022
Rev. Jan Buxton Wade
Good and gracious God, Lord of the universe, Lord of all that is, Lord of our hearts, our souls burst forth with gratitude for your astounding love and care. Your name is written throughout your glorious creation – upon each star and planet, upon the sun and moon, upon our blessed earth, and upon space which expands into infinity. Where we fit into your divine plan remains in part such a profound mystery, yet we know enough to bow in humility for the gift of life itself, for the fact that you have included us in your majestic ordering, and for your wondrous goodness that is written out for each of us in the ordinariness of our days.
Loving Lord, hear our prayer.
Good and gracious God, we cannot detect the intricacy of the ways in which you are working in our individual lives, but the influence of your Spirit bears witness to your enlivening power all around us. When we find the misery of the world overwhelming, we see those who never lose heart. When our own voices are too weak to speak out against injustice, we hear resounding echoes of those who will not rest until equality is manifest. When we become weary of those who are marring and polluting the earth, there are your ceaseless followers bringing about the sweet waters of change. Tune our hearts also, we pray, to the spirit song that intones holy hope and restoration; then we, too, will become part of that resilient company bringing about your kingdom on earth.
Loving Lord, hear our prayer.
Good and gracious God, Lord of family and community, deflate our insensitivity in taking your gifts of relationship for granted; for truly our reliance upon our brothers and sisters is part of your sacred plan. Into our anxiety, plant your peace; where there are divisions, sow unity; where there is indifference, may concern blossom; and where anger rules, let understanding flourish. All things are
possible through your grace, so bestow that grace upon your people, we pray, until all hearts beat with your incomparable love.
Loving Lord, hear our prayer.
And remembering our bond with each one connected with our Church Street family, we offer their specific prayers on their behalf:
Good and gracious God, even as we are scattered, bind us together into one human family. Help us to be the body of Christ, loving and serving the world. And as you have created us all, we lift our voices in prayer, as Jesus 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, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
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Weekly Prayer – July 13, 2022
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of July 13, 2022
Rev. Tim Best
Friends in Christ, God invites us to hold the needs of our sisters and brothers, as dear to us as our own needs. Loving our neighbors as ourselves, we offer our thanksgivings and our petitions on behalf of the church and the world:
Gracious God we give you thanks for the wisdom and knowledge you have poured out upon us through your church. We are thankful for minds that wonder and souls that search for you. Guide our learning and our teaching that through it all you might be made known and glorified. Where our knowledge is lacking and our wisdom deficient, strengthen and nurture our spirits and minds by your wise and loving grace.
We pray for our neighbors. For those neighbors whom we know well and cherish we are thankful; For those neighbors that we do not know or that make us fearful we pray that your Holy Spirit would teach us to love and learn alongside them and from them, giving us eyes to see the gifts that you have given to each of them. May we truly live as those rescued from the power of darkness and live peaceably with all our neighbors in sure confidence that the kingdom of your beloved Son is a reality for us here and now.
We lift all of those who suffer, are alone, or are in any kind of trouble, to your care. Comfort and heal those we hold in our hearts and grant them courage and hope the midst of their troubles, and bring them the joy of your salvation. May your Spirit draw close to those who mourn and those who feel distant from you. Draw each of us closer to your heart, as we name so many gifts that have brought us joy, and also name the specific concerns of your people of Church Street UMC:
God of salvation, who sent your Son to seek out and save what is lost, hear our prayers on behalf of those who are lost in our day, receiving all our petitions and thanksgivings with your unending compassion as we join offer the prayer that Jesus taught:
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, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
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Weekly Prayer – July 6, 2022
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of July 6, 2022
Rev. Jan Buxton Wade*
This is my song, oh God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrine.
But other hearts and other lands are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and pure mine.
O God of All Nations, the poet speaks truth as we acknowledge our land comes to us as a gift of grace, entrusted to our care. Indeed, as we celebrate our independence this week, we lift our hands and hearts in thanksgiving to you, for our country and for its people, for its vastness, its rich diversity and resources to nourish and sustain. May we join in this song of homage, knowing that our freedoms were forged by others willing to lay both livelihoods and lives on the line for liberty’s sake. Yes, we cherish our nation, but we remember that other hearts burn just as deeply with love of their homelands. Your dream is for all peoples to know the freedoms we have inherited. So guard us, we pray, lest we cross the threshold to worship of America. May we heed the words of the prophet: O God, others have ruled over us, but we worship you alone! (Is. 26:13).
My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,
and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine,
but other lands have sunlight too and clover,
and skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
Oh, hear my song, oh God of all the nations,
a song of peace for their land and for mine.
O God of All Nations, we confess that despite all you have done for our states united, our history haunts us, for it brims with the sordid parts of our past. No longer dare we brush aside our longtime exploitation of persons of color, our indifference to the plight of the weak and poor, our love affair with money, our apathy in correcting inequalities, our tolerance for violence, and our hunger for world supremacy at all costs. Our Savior spoke of humility, kindness, and love for the stranger. His was a peaceful walk, but we have soiled Jesus’ path with our own selfishness. Lord have mercy upon us once again. Point us toward that new, untainted thoroughfare, and we will move forward with you as our resilient guide.
O God of All Nations, as we depend upon you as our ultimate sustenance, may our very breaths this day become prayers of healing and peace for those across the globe who are hungry or thirsting, threatened, nearing death, and in need of your holy counsel. We place our own prayers beside our brothers and sisters in every land who lift their private yearnings toward the gates of heaven:
As those who follow the Risen Christ, we believe your loving hand will ever be upon us. And we shall not forget that our true citizenship is in the kingdom of heaven, our eternal home.
This is my prayer, O Lord of all earth’s kingdoms:
Thy kingdom come; on earth thy will be done.
Let Christ be lifted up till all shall serve him,
and hearts united learn to live as one.
O hear my prayer, thou God of all the nations;
Myself I give thee, let thy will be done.
Amen.
*Verses excerpted from hymn, O God of Every Nation, authored by William W. Reid, Jr. and Georgia Harkness, UMC Hymnal, Hope Publishing, 1958, 1989.
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