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:
- Prayers have resulted in a miraculous healing
- Thanksgiving for safe travel to family reunion
- One thankful for sustaining grace – final round of chemo
- Bereaved family has felt comfort of God’s presence
- An adult son’s depression has lifted through prayers
- Medical student thankful: critical exams completed
- Member celebrates birth of new great grandchild
- Medication & therapy helping a husband’s voice ailment
- Young couple excitedly plan an August wedding
- Caring members who visit the aging and infirm
- One celebrates offers of assistance for a church endeavor
- Patience is sustaining one during personal trials
Concerns:
- Solace for those whose family members nearing death
- Healing grace for a mother with bone cancer
- Healing beloved mother with cancer and easing of her pain
- Mending two broken relationships
- Continued prayers for brother with cancer
- Safety and guidance for all involved with M.A.D in the City youth mission
- Mercy and comfort for loved ones near death
- Courage & healing for member in radiation treatment
- Three families splintered by addiction
- Cherished husband in ICU, guidance for his wife
- Healing mercies for member beginning cancer treatment this week
- Parents both suffering major illnesses
- Direction for troubled teenage nephew
- Physical strength for wife and husband in physical therapy
- A brother’s spiritual growth and wisdom
- God’s presence with beloved sister in decline
- Healing for an ill couple, professional performers
- Guidance for wife and her husband with dementia
- Proper diagnosis: Young niece experienced 2nd seizure
- Son in ER with fainting episodes
- Elderly mother who suffered a fall
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.
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 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!
Weekly Prayer – June 9
UncategorizedWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of June 6, 2021
Written by Rev. Jan Buxton Wade
O Love Beyond Our Imagining, we pause these moments in midweek to remember and to praise you. As we reflect upon the mystery of our lives, we cannot apply reason to our existence – your transcendent grace presents the only answer. Our bodies in themselves are miracles not to be taken for granted. The love we receive from others, the way your Spirit works within us, the beauty of creation, the events that have led us to you, are all outside the bounds of our understanding. These are veiled mysteries that speak of your love, so teach us to move beyond the realm of what makes sense and to remain open to that love that permeates our past, our present, and our future. Breathe in us, O Breath of Life, as we breathe in you.
God of Tender Mercies, we carry heavy personal griefs this day: for those treasured souls who have died, for relationships that are damaged, for our brothers and sisters who are despondent and lonely, for those whose bodies and minds are failing, for those who are unemployed or underemployed. And underneath we also carry the collective grief of our world: the pain inflicted on persons of color, the indigenous children whose bodies are being unearthed in Canada, the murder and maiming caused by terrorist organizations, persecution of Christian, Jew, and Muslim at home and abroad, the unrest and instability within our own country. Lead us, we pray, to those rivers of healing, where your waters of mercy might soothe us and also cleanse our hearts of hatred, prejudice and retribution.
You have called us, Lord, to be a light in this city, but we confess that we have failed you in many ways. Forgive us for focusing on things that matter little and how we pass by opportunities that could make a world of difference in our community. Open us more fully into your mission, that your holy beam would shine through us, drawing all others into a closer communion with you.
As you have shown mercy to us throughout all our days, receive our thanksgivings; and also hear the cries of each one who offers personal prayers in your name:
Gratitudes:
Concerns:
O God, Father of All Mercies, we kneel in awe when we recognize your movement within our lives. And may that recognition kindle in each of us renewed faith, renewed courage, and renewed resolve to live lives worthy of the love you gave us in Jesus. May we cling to your Son, that we may be among those who mount up with wings as eagles, who run and are not weary, who walk and do not faint:
Have a Prayer Request?
Senior Spotlight: Caroline Powell
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 Caroline Powell!
Weekly Prayer – June 2
prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of May 30, 2021
Written by Rev. Jan Buxton Wade
O Triune God: Creator, Christ, and Spirit, we do not understand your love for us, nor do we fully understand how you move in our world and in our lives. We can only bow to the mystery of your affection and faithfulness; indeed, your abiding presence is our greatest treasure! When we falter and fail, it is your mercy that redeems us. When daunted by our trials, it is your grace that sustains us. And when we doubt our own abilities, it is your holy breath that fills us with boldness and courage to serve as you have asked. “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!”
Your generosity abounds, O Friend of Life, and we are recipients of abundance; yet why is it that we demand more and more? We deplete our natural resources by taking more than we need; we reduce forest and field to wasteland, disregarding important habitats of wild creatures; we squander the inborn splendor of your earth in our quest for goods and manufactured entertainment. Prick our collective conscience, O Framer of the World, that we might repent of our self-indulgence before we have marred the good earth beyond reparation. And bless those, we pray, who dedicate their lives to preservation of the unique and sacred home you have made for your people. Give us grace to walk that more gentle and sacred path.
We hear the bitter cries of the hurting across the globe, O Lord, and the sound singes our souls. For children dying of gun violence, Lord have mercy. For those bereft in the Middle East, whose lives and homes are shattered by terrorism, Lord have mercy. For those who have lost everything due to substance abuse, Lord have mercy. For those tormented ones in India suffering illness and death due to the Covid virus, Lord have mercy. For the brokenness of those whom our own nation has failed, Lord have mercy. Each human life has a name, a face, and a story, and you know each intimately, O Christ. All these, who are beloved of God, we lift up to your care, and also ask that your mercy would surround also these whom you also love, members of our Church Street family:
We pray in unity, Holy One, because we are people of hope, believing that suffering and death never have the last word. May our own thanksgivings we now offer remain a sign to our neighbors that our God offers mercy and grace:
All these prayers and petitions we offer today in the name of our Holy Keeper: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:
Have a Prayer Request?
Youth Summer 2021
YouthWelcome to Summer with Church Street Youth!