BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Daily Prayers of the Church Street family
July 2, 2020
Pastor Jan
This is one of those days, Lord, when in spite of summer warmth, there is a chill in the air and even in our hearts. Why these seasons of the spirit come we do not know, but when they do, we prefer sitting in emptiness rather than turning to the warmth of your words and your caring ways. Rekindle the embers of our hearts, O Flame of Goodness, that in the hours ahead, we may remember our commitment doesn’t depend upon how we happen to feel at any given moment. You will use whatever cold offerings we bring to create a spark of home somewhere. Ignite that hope in us again too, we pray.
God of Goodness, hear our prayer.
We know you bear the pain of your people, but there are so many burdens to be borne. Anger and violence have permeated our streets and neighborhoods. Lawlessness increases where peace once reigned. Halls of governments are filled with rancor and distrust. We are held hostage by a virulent disease for which no cure has been discovered, and so many of your people fade away behind barriers of protection, forgetting who they are. We believe you have answers to our dilemma, O God, but we pray you would not tarry too long, for we seem to be sinking under the weight of our pain.
God of Goodness, hear our prayer.
O Master of Surprise, through the ages you have brought restoration when all seemed hopeless. You have always presented yourself in unexpected ways to your confused and hurting people. Give us patience and courage, we pray, to endure our present trials, knowing you have not forgotten us. And also remember these praises and pleas that are offered by members of your Church Street family:
- Gratitude: wife is thankful for unexpected financial assistance
- Thankful a member has been released from hospital & is now home
- Family so very grateful a brother is no longer on a ventilator
- A niece received a government check to help sustain her business
- Thankful for all members and families on the front lines of medical care and public safety
- Prayers that a member’s Covid-19 test is negative
- Healing prayers for nephew (physician) with Covid and safety for his family
- Member who suffered a terrible fall 9 days ago, for restoration & comfort
- Prayer for peaceful death for an aunt (96) suffering with cancer
- Patience and healing for one facing long recovery from leg surgery
- Guidance and hope to restore an ill father & to uphold a grieving son
- Prayers for a brother who may undergo a pacemaker procedure this week
- Healing mercies for a granddaughter diagnosed w/ rare intestinal condition
- Hospital worker needs relief from great stress due to the pandemic
- Continued prayers for safety: a daughter & a son working in Florida
- Healing mercies for a member now in a rehab unit
In your tender compassion, watch over our family of faith, that we may become more and more aware of your surprising grace.
God of Goodness, hear our prayer.
O Fount of Wisdom, you spoke your words through the prophets and through Jesus himself, telling us we were indeed our brothers’ keeper – to speak in love and kindness to the stranger, to comfort the fallen, to feed the poor, to offer hope to the bereft. How wise you are in your teaching, for you knew that when we serve the other, our own worries subside. Astonishing is the manner in which you are transforming us!
God of Goodness, hear our prayer.
Wrap up these petitions, Faithful One, and carry them in your basket of peace; and we will rest easy, knowing peace will come in good time, and that all shall be well:
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?
Submit your request confidentially online, and our prayer team will be in prayer with and for you.
Join us for a midday devotion!
Head to our Facebook page at noon to hear from new Sr. Associate Pastor Tim Best and Rev. Palmer Cantler.
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.
Prayer for Today – July 9
prayer for todayBINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Daily Prayers of the Church Street family
July 9, 2020
Pastor Jan
O God of the Day, we come before you this morning in all our varied states. Some us come with peace, others with strife in their hearts. Some of us arrive with hope, others with desolation. Some of us carry a basket of dreams, others hold out empty hands. Still, whether buoyant or heavy-hearted, we enter, knowing that you will offer some nugget from your storehouse of wisdom to lead us through this day. And not only that, you will walk beside us every hour to come. Thanks be to God!
Most Holy Lord, hear our prayer.
O Guardian of the Weak, you rescued Israel from slavery and called her your own. By the frailty of your Son, you rescued humanity from slavery to sin and death. Throughout the eras you have continued to hear the cries of your people and have been faithful to rebuild the ruins of our lives. We trust you now, O Steadfast One, to continue your work of renewal throughout our wounded world. Heal those places where slavery still exists; break the bonds of those who are held hostage to greed, discrimination, illness and poverty. Strengthen us to pry open the rusty locks of oppression, we pray, that we might then fling wide the gates of freedom for those who suffer everywhere. And as one unified people, we shall celebrate our God!
Most Holy Lord, hear our prayer.
And as we work in your name for a better world, we ask that you also remember these particular ones close to home, our Church Street friends who offer their petitions today:
May our dream be as yours, Loving God: that one day peoples everywhere will be set free to live their lives creatively and vibrantly in your name.
Most Holy Lord, hear our prayer.
Faithful One, may our hearts be filled with gratitude these coming hours, as we absorb the soft rain of divine gifts you sprinkle throughout our days. From birdsong to quiet brook, from colored pebble to fragrant flower, from humming bee to gliding cloud, you bless us. We kneel in awe and humility, but also in confidence that nothing in all creation can separate us from your love through Christ Jesus our Lord, who taught 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?
Submit your request confidentially online, and our prayer team will be in prayer with and for you.
Join us for a midday devotion
Head to Facebook at noon today for a devotion with Rev. Catherine Clark Nance!
Prayer for Today – July 8
prayer for todayBINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Daily Prayers of the Church Street family
July 8, 2020
Pastor Jan
You woo us, O God, Sleuth that you are. We would find it annoying if we did not know that you seek us because you care so deeply for us. Truly, the psalmist says that there is nowhere we might flee, but you are there already. Perchance underneath our façade, we want to be known as we really are, without our makeup. And the astonishing reality is that you seem to delight in us more earnestly when we remove our masks, share our doubts, our imperfections and failures freely. Such an impenetrable moving mystery you are. Ah, but such a friend!
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Summer rains refresh us, Lord, and we are grateful for them. But the clouded canopy overhead also carries unease. Our minds wander to times past when we were happier, when our closest companions were part of our everyday lives. Suddenly it seems that we have lost so many to death that few are left who understand us anymore. Gone are their impromptu calls just to see how we were faring, the small jokes we shared, their sensitivity to our own trials. We are on the edge of emptiness, and we often wonder why we ourselves are still here. Maybe our aloneness is to teach us how Jesus felt when his closest friends deserted him, just when he needed them most. Wash us with that summer rain, Lord, and give us courage to walk with assurance and resolve until our own time of departure comes.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
There have been rays of hope these past weeks, O Pillar of Strength, as we wait for the end of the pandemic. And we are thankful that some are able to return to work and enjoy more flexibility. The specter still haunts us, however, and we dare not let down our guard. Give us prudence, we pray, to shield our brothers and sisters who are most vulnerable to the virus, to adhere to guidelines set out by health officials, to demonstrate concern and compassion. You have seen us through other dark eras and you will see us through this time as well. We now remember these particular friends at Church Street who request our prayers of intercession. Attend to each, Good Lord, and walk with them as you work within each situation:
In celebration and in suffering, may we continue to reach out to one another, as you, O Christ, reach out to hold us fast.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Abide in our hearts this day, we pray, for we need your nearness every hour:
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?
Submit your request confidentially online, and our prayer team will be in prayer with and for you.
Prayer for Today – July 7
prayer for todayBINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Daily Prayers of the Church Street family
July 7, 2020
Pastor Jan
Life-Giving God, how privileged we are that you have given us life and breath, for just to walk upon your good earth is holy. You call each of us daily to gather under your tent of gratitude. May we assemble there this day with all the saints of the ages who sing of your goodness, for in that glad house we learn the power of a thankful heart.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We confess that sometimes we allow voices around us to swallow us up. Sometimes the noise within our own heads overpowers us. Sometimes the brokenness of the world paralyzes us. But sometimes is not all the time, for there are interludes when your mercy descends as a whisper and holds us as a mother’s soft embrace. Hold us close, Dearest Friend, until our souls are once again in harmony with yours. And hold especially these ones in your grasp today, your people of Church Street, who long for your touch:
Bear with us, O God, when we offer you so many laments and grievances. But the truth is we fear deeply what we cannot control. Isaiah’s people also lived in a time of confusion and apprehension; their days were also turbulent and their future unforeseeable. Yet you promised them that the desert surrounding them would burst with new life and would blossom abundantly, that singing would again be heard in the land, that weak hands and feeble knees would once again be made strong. To fearful hearts the prophet proclaimed: “Be strong and do not fear! Here is your God . . . He will come and save you!” Write those words upon our hearts, O Divine One, lest we forget who holds our present and our future.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Gather up these scattered pieces of prayer, O Lord, and place them close by; and each time you glance their way, your heart will be moved to remember 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.
Have a prayer request?
Submit your request confidentially online, and our prayer team will be in prayer with and for you.
Prayer for Today – July 6
prayer for todayBINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Daily Prayers of the Church Street family
July 6, 2020
Pastor Jan
Holy Friend, we offer you this unique day. May gratitude be our companion, for you have tucked away treasures in the folds of each hour; we dare not miss these blessings you have so carefully wrapped: the embrace of the sun warming our bones, eyes to behold the faces of friends, the gift of music to lift our hearts heavenward, the sound of a loved one’s voice on the phone, the ability to read the printed page, aroma of welcome rain on dry fields, memories of wonders of bygone days, the honor of working and living in your name. May all our thanksgivings join with all those praises offered throughout the world!
Blessed be your name, O One Who Hears Us!
Loving Overseer, we pray for an understanding of what yet might be. We seek your reassurance, Lord, that your new work will become visible, even in our shortsightedness. In spite of the church’s honest efforts throughout the ages, injustice poverty, cruelty and hypocrisy are on the rise. Keep us from despairing, Gentle Savior, when our works and our prayers do not come to fruition according to our own timetables. Give us grace, we pray, to continue our work of faith, knowing that somehow, some way, you are already using our good intentions and our prayers to make a cosmic difference in our world.
Blessed be your name, O One Who Hears Us!
Preserver of Life, we lift up to your light all who find themselves in distress, illness, adversity this day. We pray for their deliverance from their afflictions and difficulties. Especially we remember those closest to our hearts . . . Also these friends from our own church family:
Bind our hearts together as one holy community, O Lord, and may we cling together and support one another as we travel that highway that leads to your doorstep.
Blessed be your name, O One Who Hears Us!
Revitalize us this day for faithful service, O Lord, knowing you accept us fully and that you are always pleased to hear the prayer your Son taught his 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?
Submit your request confidentially online, and our prayer team will be in prayer with and for you.
Prayer for Today – July 3
prayer for todayBINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Daily Prayers of the Church Street family
July 3, 2020
Pastor Jan
Tower of Strength, as we are on the cusp of our national holiday, we reflect upon those things that make a nation strong. Is it military might, a robust economy, vast territories stretching from shore to shore? Can we boast growing wealth, colossal skyscrapers, granite wonders pointed toward heaven? Scripture says we dare not make our boast in our might or in our riches. As the Holy One spoke clearly through his prophet: “. . . Let the one who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth . . . “ May we heed these words and ever remember we do not praise our own accomplishments, for all we have attained has come through our God’s largesse.
In Christ alone we place our trust!
O Love Ever Merciful, even today as we celebrate the benefits of our life in this free nation, our sins seem too heavy to carry, and many of them we cannot undo. And by publicly naming our collective sins of greed, arrogance, indifference, we cannot sweep our private failings under the rug. Both have marred your name and thwarted our witness as disciples. These personal misdeeds we now name in the silence of our own hearts . . . Set us free from the past we cannot change, but open to us that future where we might still take on the image of Jesus. The apostle claims that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation; the old life is gone and a new life has begun. We believe and claim this good news!
In Christ alone we place our trust!
We acknowledge, O Lord, those who have sacrificed greatly and who continue to sacrifice that we may live in freedom in this country. We must not take their efforts for granted, for our freedom has come at a high price. May we use our liberty according to your will, that we might become a beacon of hope, not for just a few, but for all who walk our continent. Give hope also, we pray, to these believers in our Church Street family who call out this day:
In Christ alone we place our trust!
We offer this day to you and to your Beloved Son, for the government rests upon his shoulders and thus we have named him Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace:
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?
Submit your request confidentially online, and our prayer team will be in prayer with and for you.
Welcoming Church Street’s New Clergy
covid, Featured, From the PulpitChurch Street is pleased to welcome Rev. Catherine Clark Nance, Senior Pastor, and Rev. Tim Best, Senior Associate Pastor, to our clergy leadership team. They join Rev. Palmer Cantler, Associate Pastor, Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade, Minister of Spiritual Enrichment, as well as our Visitation Pastors, Rev. Pat Clendenen and Rev. Andy Ferguson. Enjoy this welcome letter to Church Street from Rev. Catherine Clark Nance:
Dear Church Family,
I would love to say, “It has been wonderful getting to meet so many of you!” I long for the day to shake hands and ask you to repeat your name for me. In the meantime, I am scrolling through Facebook and looking at a pictorial directory I found in my office from 2016 trying to learn some names and faces.
Since I cannot see you right now, I have spent time seeing where you worship and learn and fellowship. I always feel at home in a United Methodist Church building. Regardless of the architecture, location, and age, there are things all Methodist churches have in common. I have enjoyed walking the hallways and seeing the information on bulletin boards, the leftover hearts from Valentine’s Day that the children taped to the walls, collection bins for UMCOR items as well as local agencies. I love the smell of the library and how the UMW Reading List books are prominently displayed. (The colorful butterflies created by children say that all ages are welcome here!)
Sunday School rooms tell a lot about the people who meet there each week. The items you display and the things you store in cabinets, signup sheets for refreshments and teaching, and prayer concerns written on the board all say that Christian fellowship and education are important. I have spent time in each room I visited offering a prayer of thanksgiving for the learning that has gone on. I imagine conversations that have taken place as members strive to love and care for one another in difficult times.
Although I cannot visualize who sits in which pew, I assume most of you usually sit in the same spot! I have sat in different pews while listening to one of the students practice organ and offered prayers for those who come each Sunday. Prayers of gratitude are offered also for those whose precious memories fill the room as well as those we will welcome in the future.
In this time of being physically apart, I often pray the hymn by John Fawcett:
Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.
I pray that we are each aware of God’s Holy and Connecting Spirit; the tie that binds. Through the mystery and benevolence of the Holy Spirit, we are indeed together. I am grateful to be joined with you at Church Street United Methodist Church. The clergy here have welcomed Rev. Tim Best and me graciously. We look forward to working alongside Palmer, Jan, Andy, and Pat. Your staff has made transition easy! How fortunate we are to have a committed and talented staff! I know you appreciate them!
As the hymn continues,
… we shall still be joined in heart
And hope to meet again (let’s change ‘again’ to ‘soon’!)
Thankful for all of the ways we can be joined!
Blessings to you –
Catherine
Prayer for Today – July 2
prayer for todayBINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Daily Prayers of the Church Street family
July 2, 2020
Pastor Jan
This is one of those days, Lord, when in spite of summer warmth, there is a chill in the air and even in our hearts. Why these seasons of the spirit come we do not know, but when they do, we prefer sitting in emptiness rather than turning to the warmth of your words and your caring ways. Rekindle the embers of our hearts, O Flame of Goodness, that in the hours ahead, we may remember our commitment doesn’t depend upon how we happen to feel at any given moment. You will use whatever cold offerings we bring to create a spark of home somewhere. Ignite that hope in us again too, we pray.
God of Goodness, hear our prayer.
We know you bear the pain of your people, but there are so many burdens to be borne. Anger and violence have permeated our streets and neighborhoods. Lawlessness increases where peace once reigned. Halls of governments are filled with rancor and distrust. We are held hostage by a virulent disease for which no cure has been discovered, and so many of your people fade away behind barriers of protection, forgetting who they are. We believe you have answers to our dilemma, O God, but we pray you would not tarry too long, for we seem to be sinking under the weight of our pain.
God of Goodness, hear our prayer.
O Master of Surprise, through the ages you have brought restoration when all seemed hopeless. You have always presented yourself in unexpected ways to your confused and hurting people. Give us patience and courage, we pray, to endure our present trials, knowing you have not forgotten us. And also remember these praises and pleas that are offered by members of your Church Street family:
In your tender compassion, watch over our family of faith, that we may become more and more aware of your surprising grace.
God of Goodness, hear our prayer.
O Fount of Wisdom, you spoke your words through the prophets and through Jesus himself, telling us we were indeed our brothers’ keeper – to speak in love and kindness to the stranger, to comfort the fallen, to feed the poor, to offer hope to the bereft. How wise you are in your teaching, for you knew that when we serve the other, our own worries subside. Astonishing is the manner in which you are transforming us!
God of Goodness, hear our prayer.
Wrap up these petitions, Faithful One, and carry them in your basket of peace; and we will rest easy, knowing peace will come in good time, and that all shall be well:
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?
Submit your request confidentially online, and our prayer team will be in prayer with and for you.
Join us for a midday devotion!
Head to our Facebook page at noon to hear from new Sr. Associate Pastor Tim Best and Rev. Palmer Cantler.
Prayer for Today – July 1
prayer for todayBINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Daily Prayers of the Church Street family
July 1, 2020
Pastor Jan
O Song of Welcome, the psalmist urges us to come into your presence with singing, making a joyful noise throughout the land! Thus we enter the gates of this new day, lifting high our thankful praise for all the ways you have cared for us . . . How can we but glorify you, whose mercy and truth are everlasting? Oh, sing in our hearts, Lord, throughout this day!
Sacred One, hear our prayer.
O God With Us, could we ever enumerate the times you remained close beside us during our life’s journeys? We reflect now, bringing to mind those special instances when we felt your presence most keenly . . . Your mercy has been our rock of refuge when loss, doubt, depression, illness, even despair entered our lives. It was your power working within us that held us firm.
Sacred One, hear our prayer.
We trust in you, Framer of the Universe, and believe you hear the smallest creature that calls your name. As you count even the sparrow as worthy of your grace, receive these concerns and joys which are carried to your door by your people at Church Street:
As you sustain us, Lord, through all our challenges, may we learn more of your grace at the core of our being.
Sacred One, hear our prayer.
Canticle of Hope, continue to chant your lyrics of renewal in the background of our days, that, taking up your song, our own strains of praise might reach those who do not yet know of the recreating love of Jesus, the One who taught 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?
Submit your request confidentially online, and our prayer team will be in prayer with and for you.
Prayer for Today – June 30
prayer for todayBINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Daily Prayers of the Church Street family
June 30, 2020
Pastor Jan
You search us out day by day, Good Shepherd, desiring to know us more fully, to help us understand our own fears and longings, to show us how we might make decisions that are life-affirming. We praise you for wanting the best for us, O Lord. Work your wonders in our souls today, until our hearts beat in steady rhythm with yours.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
O God of the Apostles and Prophets, your cries for justice rang out through your messengers who walked the ancient roads of oppression. It wasn’t their own words they uttered, for you so eloquently spoke through them. May your words of mercy, equity, and peace flow through us as well, that we may call out freely in support of the needy, the neglected, the overwrought, the outcast. But not our words alone, we pray, for our deeds underscore the depth of your love for the maltreated.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Patient One, these months of the pandemic have brought us to our knees. Roadblocks have appeared just when we thought we were on the edge of release. Our hopes are dashed when outbreaks of the insidious illness flare up in unexpected places. This is truly a frightening era; yet keep reminding us that your blessings are still arriving. We have witnessed miracles of your healing presence in the births of healthy babies and lives restored to health; you have shown us new avenues of worship and have quickened our passion for justice. Yes, O Lord, you are teaching us patience as you continue to touch us with newness. And as we trust in your providence to sustain us, we lift again today both the gladness and the hopes of our Church Street family:
Living Lord, we remain a blessed people, for you have heard our prayers, are giving us release, and are always working for wholeness on our behalf. May we never take you for granted, O Holy One, for we know the grace you shower upon us in this realm is but a foretaste of that grace so evident in your home above:
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?
Submit your request confidentially online, and our prayer team will be in prayer with and for you.
Prayer for Today – June 29
prayer for todayBINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Daily Prayers of the Church Street family
June 29, 2020
Pastor Jan
The prophet dreamed of a time when lions and oxen would feed together, when leopards and lambs would play in the same field, when wolves would sleep with the cattle. We hold that same vision, Lord. We also long for the violence to evaporate as the dew, for injustice to be blown away as dust, for anger to melt as the frost. Some say such dreams are fantasies, for distrust and division have always been with us. Yet we hold onto that holy hope, as we trust in the God of Miracles, the One who created the good earth, blessed it with wildlife, who called forth humankind to be at work re-creating in his name, and who even brought life out of death.
Praise be to you, O Lord.
Source of Renewal, we enter your presence, as you invited us to do so. You hollowed out that cavern within us that yearns for communion with the holy. Much is taking place beyond our veil of knowing, for your Spirit works in ways and in places of which we have never heard. Fill that empty space you created inside us, we pray, for it is just large enough for that presence for which we thirst. We shall rest now in silence and let you touch whatever it is that needs attention . . . For your radical love that accepts us, for your amazing grace that replenishes us, and for your covenant blessing which binds us to you, we are grateful and humbled.
Praise be to you, O Lord.
Accompany those who travel with heavy sorrows this day, O Lord, as they stumble through the dark expanse of pain. As Jesus also knew the sharp edges of loss, we know he will walk with them. And when they fall, may they realize they do not fall alone. There are others who cry out to you, as well, so attend to these Church Street members who bring their own praises and concerns this day, knowing their pain is your pain, their joys are your joys:
Thank you, Blessed One, for always leaving your door ajar, just in case we cry out.
Praise be to you, O Lord.
In spite of our unworthiness, Generous Friend, you treasure us and have even made us members of your very own family. We thank you for allowing us to be among those who call you Father and who pray with us these words taught by your Son:
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?
Submit your request confidentially online, and our prayer team will be in prayer with and for you.
Join us for a midday devotion on Facebook!
Click here to join Katie and Evelyn Heatherly for a devotion at noon.