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:

• Gratitude: Safe travel to and from L.A. – daughter settled in new position
• Celebration the baptism of two youngsters and those who joined our congregation on Sunday
• Prayers appreciated: Ill mother died peacefully at home
• Thanksgiving for all at work assisting flood victims
• Family celebrating a 50th wedding anniversary this week
• Family happily sharing news of a pregnancy
• Grateful for our faithful youth, youth leadership and volunteers
• One seeks prayers for retention of her eyesight
• Lift up all educators and students as a new school year begins
• Prayers for family as they move a son to assisted living
• Please remember in prayer a father undergoing a heart procedure
• Guidance in decisions: Ill wife with extreme challenges
• Church family mourning the death of beloved father July 29
• One seeking forgiveness from and reconciliation with family
• God’s presence with family, grieving death of cherished cousin
• Prayer support for family -mother discontinuing cancer treatments
• Husband grieving the recent death of his wife
• Longtime friends in Virginia, support as they contend with wife’s breast cancer
• Protection for all our needy friends in our church neighborhood
• Pray for member family seeking ways to best help an extremely ill brother

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:

Have a prayer request?

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:

• Prayers appreciated – family felt steady support during bereavement
• Thankful widowed friend is returning to worship
• Grateful for prayers: medical mission in support of women & children in Namibia was successful & many were blessed
• Thankful for a father’s 84^th birthday
• Gratitude: a sister’s hip surgery with no complications
• Celebration by one whose hand ailment has been cured
• Thanksgiving for an exceptional family vacation
• Family grateful: father’s cancer surgery went smoothly
• Gratitude for prayers: frail friend survived July 13 surgery
• Thanksgiving for Holston Conference & its outpouring of aid for disaster relief both in our nation & throughout the world
• Prayers for wife having heart surgery this week at Mayo Clinic
• Solace for family mourning the recent death of a nephew
• Pray for miraculous healing of infant (10 months) -brain cancer
• Continued prayers for a very ill brother & guidance for family
• Prayers for a grandson (10) making a profession of faith July 24
• A very ill cousin; beloved sister beginning radiation soon
• Courage for member with dementia at home & her family
• Lift up a daughter having eye surgery today – that all may go well
• Leaders of all nations, that they might work for the good of the people
• Prayers for ending the killing & evil destruction within Ukraine
• Healing of anxiety of a divorced friend
• Spiritual intervention needed: a mother & children in dilemma
• Courage & guidance for dear friend with breast cancer
• One seeks guidance in conversing with an atheistic friend
• Healing for an invalid son suffering with Covid
• One in deep depression, for insurance to pay for his medications
• Peace for one who feels as if God is not answering his prayers
• Safety & protection for one traveling great distances this week
• A family in grief – have been shunned by their rural church

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:

HAVE A PRAYER REQUEST?

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. 

Gracious God, as we reflect upon Father’s Day, we are grateful for all men who have nurtured us and helped us learn more about your love: fathers, grandfathers, uncles, teachers, brothers. Thank you for special relationships and bonds that reflect your image of grace, acceptance, wisdom, and growth.

We pray for children everywhere – may each child know that they are loved by you. Open our eyes that we may know how to care for children – not just our own – but those in our community, in the schools around us, in our neighborhood. May our decisions and our actions all be done in an effort to guard, guide, and defend them. Give us the strength to protect them from dangers seen and unseen; give us the faithfulness to live holy lives in front of them; to never stop trying to be spiritually alive members of the church and ambassadors for Christ everywhere we go. 

Loving God, bless us that we may be a blessing to our children. Help us remember who we are and from where we have come. Help us remember the things you have done for us in the past so we can teach them to our children. May we give them hope and enthusiasm for the future. May we give them openness to your holy message of forgiveness, grace, and love. May they too want to walk in the paths of righteousness. May your word live in them and for generations to come. Hear this prayer we offer today. We give thanks that Covid vaccines are now available for our youngest children.

Our Juneteenth observance just past reminded us of our shortcomings as a nation, and how we exploited the vulnerable, and have not traversed the road to equality as we have promised.  Therefore, we pray for all who are still in bondage … may they hear good news that there is freedom in Christ – whatever their bondage. Forgive us when our own prejudices and fears have kept people labeled as other or “less than.” Overwhelm us with your grace that we might embrace all others as fully blessed, beloved, and created. Reveal to us the ways in which we benefit from the oppression of others and transform our thinking and our living. Embolden us to declare with our words and our works that through Christ all are made free. 

And may that same overwhelming grace spill over into all the lives of these friends who call upon your name, both in thanksgiving and in need this week.  In whatever way you will, surround them with the peace and confidence for which they long:

• Gratitude for safe passage home for Master Arts European travelers
• Family elated: Youngster with head trauma is now home, much improved since his accident, ask for prayers for complete healing
• Wife, caregiver, appreciates prayers & offers of assistance from friends
• Nephew thankful for prayers, his uncle died peacefully
• Thanksgiving for a festive church wedding on Saturday
• Happy couple celebrate their second wedding anniversary
• Couple thankful for their 53rd wedding anniversary on Thursday 
• Family deeply appreciates prayers during a bereavement
• One grateful for all remembering him throughout his hospital stay
• Thankful for eager & energetic children attending VBS  
• Church & family celebrate the baptism of 2 young daughters Sunday
• Thanksgiving for the life and witness of a remarkable Christian woman who succumbed to cancer on Sunday
• Prayers for adult son & family grieving recent death of his father
• Wisdom, safety for members suffering from Parkinson’s
• Safe delivery of baby boy, mother with worrisome complications
• Safety & resilience for friend boldly speaking out for children’s safety in classrooms & for protection of voter rights 
• Prayers for member grieving death of wife, safe travel for a daughter & family traveling to area to offer support
• Continued prayers for all pastors in transition this week & for the congregations they will serve
• Strength, faith, & hope for an aunt entering a new phase of cancer treatment
• All working to bring about the end of the Ukrainian crisis, for healing, help, and hope for these suffering people
• Patience, continued humor, & healing for an uncle recovering from a stroke
• Healing for a brother in severe kidney crisis & for his family
• A strong bonding of all races within our community
• A fractured family relationship
• Wisdom and insight for leaders at every level to end gun violence 
• Easing of pain & infirmity – member recovering from knee surgery
• Prayers for couples who long to have children  
• Member recovering from hip surgery & colon perforations 
• A new position needed: Adult son in unhealthy work situation  
• For reliable caregivers to be found to help an infirm husband
• All working to end violence, hunger, and poverty in our community

We thank you for accepting these prayers offered in sincerity, and, as those made one in Christ, we offer that prayer he taught us, saying:

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.

O Loving and Creating Spirit, we gaze at your enchanting world, observing your mysterious Vine of Newness working its way through every living thing.  What a testament to Who you are! Christ’s announcement, “Behold, I make all things new!” reverberates within our very beings as we drink in the explosive beauty you display so liberally. Enshroud us with those green tendrils of grace this day, we pray, that we might nourish that fresh growth until its fruit ripens deep within us. Then, someday we might also stand as resilient witnesses who know they have no life in themselves apart from that rich and verdant Vine. 

Lord of Life, hear our prayer.

We do confess and lament, Holy Life-Giver, that we are part of that which continues to desecrate the peaceable kingdom you created.  We cherish what we have, yet we do not want to share. We prefer the convenience of living in a throw-away culture, neglecting our responsibility to refrain from polluting and wastefulness. We pray for peace, but harbor personal grudges and do not work for concord within our own families and communities; nor do we risk lifting our voices on behalf of the voiceless. Spur us on to become the living ambassadors of the resurrection we claim to be.

Lord of Life, hear our prayer.

We long for your healing and holy comfort for friends, family, and neighbors in need this day. Sustain all caregivers, we pray, for they are your very own anointed. May those who are hurting somehow feel your presence and companionship through your servants who offer tender support. May all who are grieving and isolated find rest in your very own corner of comfort. And knowing that all life begins and ends in you, we turn to you with these prayers on behalf of our church community:

• Gratitude: Holy Land leaders now home safe, free of Covid
• One grateful for Vanderbilt eye exam & news that vision impairment may be arrested
• Celebration of the work & witness of our Youth Choir & their leaders
• One offers thanks for prayer support during her 8 months of chemo
• Prayers appreciated: June 3rd surgery was successful 
• Family grateful for safe extended vacation to visit family
• Thanksgiving for successful & renewing Annual Conference
• Gratitude for the extensive ministries & missions of the UMC
• Member grateful for prayers: A job with benefits has been obtained
• Thanksgiving: Cancer meds are still being tolerated by member
• Please pray for cherished wife in heart failure
• Prayers for all pastors in transition this season
• Safe delivery for mother & newborn to be delivered this weekend
• For an end to the destruction of Ukraine & the terror thrust upon its people
• Complete healing for youngster who suffered a head injury
• Dear friend with cancer; husband with bouts of depression
• Young friend who mourns the loss of her unborn child
• A new position needed: Adult son in unhealthy work situation 
• Safety & good health for CS Master Arts travelers in Europe 
• For reliable caregivers to be found to help an infirm husband
• Prayers for cherished mother at Mayo for heart exam
• 10-yr-old niece undergoing very serious spinal cord procedure on Friday
• Increased funding at all levels for treatment of mental illness 
• Guidance for a young husband seeking new employment
• Pray for all young people making transitions this season & their families 
• Young couple very much desiring children
• Comfort for a good friend in final stages of cancer 
• Elderly husband who is ill at home, wife who offers care
• Healing of broken relationships within two families 

Lord of Life, to all these prayers, we add the truth of ourselves. Keep us aware of the tangible signs your newness all around us. And give us the courage to live as Easter people, called to live into the fresh forms of ministry you are creating. Open our eyes, ears, hearts, and hands to joyfully serve our Risen Christ, who taught all disciples 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.