This year’s Summer Lecture Series marks the fourth year of the special opportunity created to educate the church body and the public on matters related to spirituality, history, archeology, social justice, current events and other religions (among other topics) in the context of Christian faith.
Last summer, the Education Committee pivoted to meet the health guidelines of our community to host a successful webinar-only lecture series. This series brought in national speakers and attendees , and it helped the committee explore the opportunity to provide educational opportunities for both Church Street and the broader community.
Dr. Valerie Cooper, Associate Professor of Religion and Society and Black Church Studies at Duke Divinity School and a 5th generation United Methodist, presented the first lecture of the series via webinar on Sunday, July 11. Her lecture, “Black Deaths Matter, Too: Doing Racial Reconciliation after the Massacre at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC,” which tackled how to pursue justice in a contentious age.
You can watch a replay of the lecture here.
Each of the three remaining lectures will be in-person and hybrid. In-person attendees will be provided light, individually packaged refreshments. To join any lecture virtually, please click here.
On July 18, Rev. Dr. Alex Thompson will present “Recognizing Jesus: The Appearances of the Risen Christ in the Synoptic Gospels”. He is Professor of Religion at Tennessee Wesleyan University and serves as pastor at Niota and Cedar Springs UMC. This will be an in-person and online hybrid event.
On July 25, Dr. Reiff will share a presentation titled, “The Eyes of Jesus Were Upon Her: The Advent of Clergy Women in Mississippi Methodism.” The story explores the remarkable transformation of a previously all-male world of ordained clergy in early 20th century Mississippi to the later part of the century when more than 50 women were serving as ministers in some capacity in United Methodism (with 44 fully ordained). He is Professor Emeritus of Emory & Henry College.
To finish the series, Dr. Rachelle Scott will present “Buddhism Beyond Meditation Cushion: Buddhist Action in the 20th and 21st Centuries” will delve into several examples of how monastic and lay Buddhists participate in social and political activism as acts of Buddhist piety in the 20th and 21st centuries. She is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Christian education has always been a vital part of Church Street’s ministry in the community. The Education Committee works each year to ensure that educational opportunities are brought to the Church community.
With a proximity close to the University of Tennessee, Church Street has always been home to and attracted scholars of all types. The Education Committee works each year to ensure that there are always new educational opportunities, whether through Sunday School classes or special lecture series and events.
The Education Committee hopes to develop training for Sunday School teachers this fall in an effort to revamp how we talk about, describe and share our Sunday School classes. An update to the language surrounding Sunday School will hopefully expand Church Street’s reach to new members of the community, and to United Methodists across the world.
To learn more about Church Street educational opportunities, visit https://www.churchstreetumc.org/education/.
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 – July 21
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of July 18, 2021
Written by Rev. Jan Buxton Wade
We come at this moment, O Lord Most High, knowing it is your will that all people be bound together in love and harmony. Truly, it has long been our prayer that we might become an integral part of your plan; we would be among those focused and resilient ones who uphold your foundation of grace and love. We confess, however, that we have fallen short of your expectations and have failed in our resolve. Our prejudices and pride have resurfaced time and again to weaken the very structure we have sought to buttress. Forgive our flaws, especially the countless ways in which we have excluded those who do not think or act as we, those whose lifestyles and experiences are vastly different than our own. And in your mercy, tend the wounds, we pray, of those whom we have injured. Turn us again toward your true words of welcome and acceptance, that we might find our unyielding place beside your Son, the Cornerstone of our Faith.
Renewing God, truly your faithfulness comes to us new every morning. Even the vaporous undulating clouds overhead, ever changing in their mystery, speak of your nearness and your promise of new beginnings. We praise you for their silent message that clear skies live just above mounds of gray; and that, through your grace, fresh possibilities await. Give us patience, we pray, to work in your name even when the times seem ashen, even when our efforts seem fruitless. When our discipleship grows stale, point us toward that untried avenue of service that you have already planned for us. Give us such faith, we pray, that we might never doubt that your clarity ever shines beyond the haze.
It was Jesus who took a single scant meal of bread and fish on the mountainside, blessed it, and it provided enough to feed a multitude. We recognize how you have blessed us and are humbled that you have given us more than we could ever ask or deserve. Even life in this realm is your sacred miracle. Help us who are so richly blessed to bless the multitudes, as did our Lord. Bless the hands of those among us who feed the hungry and reach out to the poor. Bless the hearts of those who never forget the homeless, the ill, and the vulnerable. Bless the feet of those who transport your hope to the hurting across the globe. May your power continue to flow through these humble servants who extend your mercy in abundance, as did Jesus.
Remembering that your Son receives every care we cast upon him, we share our deepest concerns this week. And also acknowledging the ways in which you are sustaining us, we name our thanksgivings:
Thanksgivings:
Concerns:
We ask all these things with confidence, knowing that you hear us even before we ask, and we pray in earnest, using the words Jesus taught his first disciples:
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?
MAD in the City 2021
Featured, YouthOur youth had an incredible week last week. And while it sounds cliche, our students really did make a difference in our city last week. They finished mission projects with such efficiency that we had to work hard to find more projects for them to complete! But even more than that, they served with generosity and joy — it was a beautiful thing to behold. And it was so special to have our first big event back together. Multiplied students and parents shared about how meaningful it was to be back and appreciated that we shifted to make this event a possibility.
Here’s a list of all the projects completed at our various worksites in just a few days:
Wesley House Community Center
– hosted a virtual Walk-a-thon to raise funds for the capital campaign
– spent time in classrooms and playing with students
– sorted and labeled close to 2000 library books
– built new shelves for library storage
– took inventory on hundreds of school supplies and sorted for the upcoming school year’s distribution
– created a resource closet in the library for student supplies
– cleaned and organized the stage and gym storage
– provided storage solutions for storage areas
– provided daily lunches and field trips
– cleaned Wesley House vehicles inside and out
– set up a music room
– assisted with donation room and multipurpose room
Operation Backyard
– built parts for handicap ramps to serve at least 7 Knoxville homeowners
– built storage shelves and work tables for the OBY warehouse
– cleaned the OBY warehouse
Beacon of Hope
– sorted and labeled all food co-op items
– cleaned and organized food pantry area
– sorted all toiletries
– cleaned and set up a children’s area with a children’s library
Church Street Missions
– packed hygiene kits
– packed Blessing Bags
– packed disaster relief kits for UMCOR
– made laundry detergent for Sharing Shop and Beacon of Hope
– sorted Sharing Shop items
– wrote notes to homebound church members
Emerald Youth
– packed incentive goody bags for students
– packed STEAM kits
– cleaned gym and bleachers
– cleaned concession stand and took inventory on items
– cleaned and reset rec room
Wesley Foundation at UTK
– cleaned and organized storage areas
– cleaned and worked in kitchen
– prepared walls and bulletin boards for fall semester info
Church Street Youth
– cleaned all common areas and kitchen
– set Sunday school rooms for fall semester
– prepared mailings for all students
Summer Lecture Series starts Education Committee post-COVID plans
Adult Ministries, Church Street Events, connectors, FeaturedThis year’s Summer Lecture Series marks the fourth year of the special opportunity created to educate the church body and the public on matters related to spirituality, history, archeology, social justice, current events and other religions (among other topics) in the context of Christian faith.
Last summer, the Education Committee pivoted to meet the health guidelines of our community to host a successful webinar-only lecture series. This series brought in national speakers and attendees , and it helped the committee explore the opportunity to provide educational opportunities for both Church Street and the broader community.
Dr. Valerie Cooper, Associate Professor of Religion and Society and Black Church Studies at Duke Divinity School and a 5th generation United Methodist, presented the first lecture of the series via webinar on Sunday, July 11. Her lecture, “Black Deaths Matter, Too: Doing Racial Reconciliation after the Massacre at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC,” which tackled how to pursue justice in a contentious age.
You can watch a replay of the lecture here.
Each of the three remaining lectures will be in-person and hybrid. In-person attendees will be provided light, individually packaged refreshments. To join any lecture virtually, please click here.
On July 18, Rev. Dr. Alex Thompson will present “Recognizing Jesus: The Appearances of the Risen Christ in the Synoptic Gospels”. He is Professor of Religion at Tennessee Wesleyan University and serves as pastor at Niota and Cedar Springs UMC. This will be an in-person and online hybrid event.
On July 25, Dr. Reiff will share a presentation titled, “The Eyes of Jesus Were Upon Her: The Advent of Clergy Women in Mississippi Methodism.” The story explores the remarkable transformation of a previously all-male world of ordained clergy in early 20th century Mississippi to the later part of the century when more than 50 women were serving as ministers in some capacity in United Methodism (with 44 fully ordained). He is Professor Emeritus of Emory & Henry College.
To finish the series, Dr. Rachelle Scott will present “Buddhism Beyond Meditation Cushion: Buddhist Action in the 20th and 21st Centuries” will delve into several examples of how monastic and lay Buddhists participate in social and political activism as acts of Buddhist piety in the 20th and 21st centuries. She is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Christian education has always been a vital part of Church Street’s ministry in the community. The Education Committee works each year to ensure that educational opportunities are brought to the Church community.
With a proximity close to the University of Tennessee, Church Street has always been home to and attracted scholars of all types. The Education Committee works each year to ensure that there are always new educational opportunities, whether through Sunday School classes or special lecture series and events.
The Education Committee hopes to develop training for Sunday School teachers this fall in an effort to revamp how we talk about, describe and share our Sunday School classes. An update to the language surrounding Sunday School will hopefully expand Church Street’s reach to new members of the community, and to United Methodists across the world.
To learn more about Church Street educational opportunities, visit https://www.churchstreetumc.org/education/.
Weekly Prayer – July 14
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of July 11, 2021
Written by Rev. Tim Best
Gracious and Merciful God, you have indeed blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing that comes from heaven. We confess our tendency to grasp for more, while discarding the abundance which you have given us. Make us mindful of the many ways in which we are blessed and through which we are called to be a blessing to all those around us.
In a world that can often appear to be ruled by forces that divide, depress, and isolate, you, O God, have chosen us in Christ to enter into your presence. We pray that we might be a sign of your presence in the world. We pray for our youth who have gone out into our community this week and have partnered with our neighbors to make a difference in our city. We also pray for the children who have gathered to learn to sing your praises during children’s choir camp. Fill the youth, children, and their adult leaders with the certain knowledge of your abiding love, and give them energy for their labors.
God, you have destined us to be adopted children through Jesus Christ because of his love. We rejoice that have been called and claimed as children and heirs; give us patient humility to recognize that Jesus’ love is a gift we are called to share. Guide us to reach out in love to those who are alone, to those who we do not understand, and to those we would see as enemies. Our inclusion into God’s family is pure gift, help us to see all others as those who have also been invited into fellowship with God.
And within the fellowship of Church Street UMC, we lift up our praises and our concerns, believing that you will continue to hear us, to love us, and to heal us:
Thanksgivings:
Concerns:
We pray in faith for that day when you will bring all things together in Christ, the things in heaven along with the things on earth. We pray for those who have died, and for those who grieve. We pray for peace amongst the nations, and for the unity of our community.
Living God, help us so to hear your holy Word that we may truly understand; that, understanding, we may believe, and, believing, we may follow in all faithfulness and obedience, seeking your honor and glory in all that we do; through Christ our Lord, 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.
Have a Prayer Request?
Weekly Prayer – July 7
UncategorizedWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of July 4, 2021
Written by Rev. Jan Buxton Wade
We come to you this week, O God of Creation, full of praise and awe for the miracles that greet us each morning; the panoply of colors that peak in summer’s glory astound us with their shading and intensity. Even the dew on the delicate rose leaf and clover radiate your splendid grace. And at eventide, you blanket us with deepening layers of pink and gray, inviting us to enter your realm of solitude and peace. Forgive us, we pray, when we overlook the treasures of hope and promise you spread out before us. Make keen our dull senses that we might bow in reverence each time we encounter your voice of encouragement, especially when it comes without words.
Unseen Companion, you prod us to move beyond the ordinary realm of thought and to center our lives around the mystery of your unfailing and eternal love. In our heart of hearts, we do believe, and yet we confess our confidence falters when we consider the plight of our world. Hatred, both on foreign shores and here in our own land, has brought terrorism and savagery to new levels. Economic, ethnic, and racial turmoil escalates. Send your healing to every fractured place, we pray, and plant that peace beyond understanding in the hearts of your people everywhere. As your church, teach us when to speak, when to challenge, and when to be silent. We would be part of the reconciliation of our neighborhood and our world, though we most often choose the safer way. When our faith dims and our energy wanes, give us that daring courage of your first disciples. Remold us into unfailing witnesses who affirm and proclaim the worth and dignity of each living soul.
Your Son Jesus became one of us, that he might bear the burdens of this human life. And still today, in his consoling manner, he reminds us that there is no pain or suffering to be endured where he is not walking beside us. There is much on our hearts as we lift up the victims in Miami housing disaster, those in the path of another tropical storm, others besieged by drought and wildfires, and all your children caught up in the relentless pandemic invading developing countries. Embrace all, O Christ, for you know each one by name.
Caring Listener, we know you hear every muffled prayer extended in your name, for you have been moving in the lives of your people at Church Street. Receive these specific notes of thanksgiving that come from our hearts, and also be at work in the lives of those who call out to you as they face their individual challenges:
Thanksgivings:
Concerns:
Love Beyond Imagining, by your sacred gift of life and your creation renewal, which come new every morning, we are honored. May the work we offer in your name this week be worthy of our calling. And whatever efforts are unworthy, touch with your immense grace, that they may be transformed for the greater good. All our named prayers and all those held secure in our hearts we offer in the name of our Savior and Redeemer who asked 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.
Have a Prayer Request?
MAD in the City
covid, Featured, Missions, YouthMaking a Difference (MAD) in the City is Church Street Youth’s annual summer mission project. This project is focused on serving Knoxville and is a longstanding partnership with the Wesley House Community Center. Historically, we have spent time each summer with Wesley House students by providing academic support with one-on-one schoolwork, playing games, going on field trips, and working on building projects.
This year, in order to honor COVID protocols, we are adding other service projects to the week to keep our groups smaller and support our city in even more ways. This summer, our youth will:
Our students will be rotating between the three work sites during the days. In the afternoons & evenings, we will join together back at Church Street for fellowship, dinner, and worship before pick-up.
One new addition to the week is supporting Wesley House’s Walk-a-thon fundraiser to help with their capital campaign! Wesley House is currently working through the rigorous process of becoming licensed with the Department of Human Services. This will allow them to better serve the East Knoxville community in a wide variety of ways. The pandemic has shifted the way Wesley House operates and serves, like becoming a Food Pantry in addition to all of their other work.
Our goal in this Walk-a-thon is to raise $2500 for WHCC. Make a gift here.
Weekly Prayer – June 30
prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of June 27, 2021
Written by Rev. Catherine Nance
Almighty God, we call you all-powerful, omnipotent, and yet we look to other powers to restore us. Before we reach out to anything or anyone else, may we acknowledge that you are the power that called forth creation, the power that called us into community; and it was by your power that our Savior Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. What other power would we want flowing towards us?
Gracious God, Mark’s gospel relates two remarkable stories of healing – one a child who seemed to have had everything and one a woman who has lost everything. These show us we have hope for healing within our own lives. We pray for healing in communities where there is despair; from our own Hawkins County as we think about a little girl to families anxiously awaiting news about loved ones in Florida. We pray for our city as citizens and law enforcement strive to work together that we may all live in peace. Lord, have mercy on all of those who need to hear your words of comfort.
O Christ, we call you healer, the great physician. Our bodies are broken and worn down, we have friends and family who are suffering from disease. You have heard us name them in our hearts. We are so bold to pray for healing, but before we can ask for flesh and bone to be restored, for organs to be renewed, we must confess that our spirits are diseased. Cleanse our spirits, soften our hearts, and open our minds so that your healing power can flow through us to all whom you love, also these, your children at Church Street:
As you continue your holy work in all our lives, Caring Lord, accept these prayers of gratitude for your power working on our behalf:
Your love, your grace, your compassion, O God, bring wholeness. We need wholeness and we long to hear you say to us: “Go in peace.” Give us that grace to truly walk in peace, discarding anger, resentment or smugness. And forgive us, we pray, when we set up barriers that keep people from you. May we be followers, may we be a church willing to make room, to make a way for people to get to you. And ay we all hear the words, “You are healed.”
All these prayers and petitions we lift up in earnest this day, in the name of your Son, that Great Channel of Peace, who taught us to pray:
Have a Prayer Request?
Weekly Prayer – June 23, 2021
prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of June 20, 2021
Written by Rev. Jan Buxton Wade
God of Tender Heart, we seem to be plagued by the same pitfalls that we confessed to you only days ago! We wonder why our best intentions crumble so quickly. But even as we lament our failures, we affirm our belief in your power to change us. We praise you that you do not give up on us! Send your creating power to mend our ragged relationships; send your redeeming love to save us from our repetitive misdeeds; and send your sustaining spirit to give us courage and strength to be made anew in your image. And as you bring about those changes in our own hearts and lives, perhaps our hurting world might somehow also be changed.
Merciful Master of Our Lives, as we approach you this week, we come as people harboring varied emotions. While some are teeming with joy and excitement, there are others of us whose lives are flooded with sorrow, weariness, confusion, and estrangement. We come in all our differences because we know you are the omnipotent expression of love and because we know you care. We celebrate the fact that that joy has found many of our brothers and sisters, and ask for new pathways to open for those who are imprisoned by fear.
We remember that when you uttered “Peace, be still!” the raging tempest obeyed, and all was calm. In your own quiet and peaceful way, touch each person in our Church Street family this week, wherever they find themselves, we pray. Calm our restless souls as we offer these particular prayers living in the hearts of your children:
Gratitudes:
Concerns:
O Love Ever Near, we feel your closeness in times of joy, but we are apt to forget you are always beside us in every instance — ready to listen, ready to support and ready to restore. Help us to dedicate a portion of this day, and every day, to commune with you, our Greatest Treasure. We would be wholly yours. And we would be made holy, as was your Son Jesus, who taught us to pray in this way:
Have a Prayer Request?
Weekly Prayer – June 16
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of June 13, 2021
Written by Rev. Jan Buxton Wade
We come into your presence, Great Sower of Seeds, seeking your assurance that new growth is still possible within us. In many ways we have allowed our faith to grow dormant as we focused on our own travails associated with the pandemic. We indeed cried out loudly to you throughout the year just passed; but we have failed to recognize your hand behind the miracle of the preventive vaccines. And truly it was your Spirit working within all those courageous ones who risked their own lives to help others in a multitude of ways. Forgive our slowness in acknowledging your silent power of healing and renewal that has never failed us.
Your generous hand ever sprinkles new ideas and new opportunities our way; we admit, however, we often remain on that tired ground we have always traversed. We’ve become so accustomed to our old habits and old patterns of thinking that we prevent your fresh concepts from germinating. O Planter of Newness, help us to conquer our fears and insecurities that we might never again stifle your dreams. Grant that we may so till the soil of our hearts that we would be prepared always to receive the seeds you sow within, and to tend them till they flourish to proclaim our praise and gratitude.
God of Memory, as you have never forgotten us, we give thanks for each of your servants who remembered us, who personally supported us throughout the pandemic, and those who uphold us now, especially . . . . . . . . . . And in this springtime as we celebrate the growth of our children, and as we honor our high school and college graduates, let us give thanks for those who nurtured our own faith throughout our growing years, especially these . . . . . . . . . We praise you for the constancy of your love and grace that continues throughout the generations, working through each of us in surprising ways to fulfill your purpose.
Receive now, we pray, these recent thanksgivings offered by your friends at Church Street; and be attentive, O Holy One, to each of those who bring their hardships and challenges to you, for you know each one by name:
Gratitudes:
Concerns:
Lord of the Harvest, as your Son taught us, we believe there will be a season when all your servants will be gathered into that abundant land where you dwell. Cultivate our faith in your tender mercy, we pray, that we might stay the course in this life, becoming strong, sturdy, and worthy to abide in your Kingdom of Grace. All these prayers and petitions we lift up to your open heart, offering the words Jesus gave us:
Have a Prayer Request?
Senior Spotlight: Clare Duncan
YouthOne of our favorite things about the spring semester each year is celebrating our graduating seniors. And this year, we have a special Senior Spotlight series on our blog. Our seniors answered interview questions earlier this spring and it has been so much fun learning their answers! Check back in each week to get to know our seniors better and help to cheer them on as they wrap up high school and prepare for their next steps!
Meet Clare Duncan!