Weekly Prayer – April 28

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Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family

Week of April 25, 2021

Written by Rev. Jan Buxton Wade

Lord of Change, you show us the sacred in everything, even in the simple occurrences in our lives. As you are turning over the season, we feel the warmth of the spring sun, behold the fresh buds and green sprigs, and hear the early birdsong and chattering squirrels. Turn our souls over, too, we pray, that we might unearth the long buried pure intentions once rooted in our hearts. Direct us toward ways in which we might let the old fall away — the old ideas, the obsolete models, and our resistance to change. Transformation often comes with pain, but you, O God of New Beginnings, will instill us with courage to take our first wobbly steps down that rough road of renewal. Hear us, Lord, as we especially seek your transformation in these personal areas: . . . . . . . . . .
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Good Shepherd, we, like sheep, are often myopic, wandering from one situation to another, frightened and disoriented, battered by grievous news of widespread illness and disaster, by blatant acts of violence and destruction, by racial misunderstandings and divisions, by knowledge of innocents who are undeserving of pain and death. Sometimes the weight of the world becomes too much for us to bear and our hearts remain broken. We recall the psalmist who knew you as the Good Shepherd; he never promised that all our pain and woes would cease. Rather, he assured us that you would comfort us with your rod and your staff. Comfort, O comfort your people, Lord, for we are worn and weary. Bring your sheep into your fold once again, that we might learn your gentle ways and follow you to pastures of healing.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

O Keeper, you are often looking out for us, even when we so carelessly graze in dangerous pastures. We pray we do not stray too far from the voice that calls out to us across the way. We know your voice, just as you know ours, so shelter us from all that threatens. And so, with confident hearts, we lay before you these prayers on behalf of our church family:

Joys
-Gratitude: member recovering steadily from surgery
-Blessing of Sunday’s confirmations and baptisms
-Thanksgiving: local availability of virus vaccines
-Appreciation for faithfulness of our Stephen Ministers
-One thankful that cancer meds seem to be working
-Gratitude that heart cath procedure went smoothly
-All who work to help solve violence in our neighborhood

Concerns
-Comfort for family mourning death of cherished husband
-Easing of back pain for one who suffers greatly
-Mother & brother in New Delhi afflicted with Covid
-Steady healing for member with fractured femur
-Patience & healing of painful shoulder injury
-Beloved niece in Iowa recovering from cancer surgery; & guidance for family members & medical personnel supporting her
-Prayers that mentor may recover from Covid
-Covid relief for all suffering in India
-Smooth transition for family moving to another state next week
-Healing touch of God for one in depression
-Easing of anger & tension between neighbors
-All mourning death of brother last Saturday
-God’s strength & courage for two struggling young women
-Healing for two afflicted with lymphoma

We thank you for putting in our hearts a desire to know you more fully, a desire to be more closely bonded to your Son, and a desire to be a better people. Watch over us this week, we may follow the lead of our great Shepherd of the Sheep, 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.

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Weekly Prayer – April 21

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Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family

Week of April 18, 2021

Written by Rev. Jan Buxton Wade

O Song of the Resurrection, each day and each night you play your bold melody of hope. Such a welcome hymn is difficult to hear, however, when the world seems to be spiraling downward. Newscasts sing of travesties of war in too many places, of random killings of innocents, distrust of public servants and officials, the pervasive penchant for categorizing and condemning those who hold differing opinions, and the ugly disrespect of our own form of government. Let us not address injustice with acts of raging destruction, but with a clarion call for equality. Let us continue to lift our voices in your resurrection song, affirming that love alone conquers evil. And with our Lord’s help, we shall overcome!
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

The epistle writer advised us to: “Cast all your cares upon him, for he cares for you;” therefore, we need not hesitate to bring our concerns into your presence. As we move through the struggles of our lives, let us cling to the conviction that we are not alone. Hear now our pleas for our personal trials . . . . . . . . . . Give us patience, Holy One, for we do sense the movement of your Spirit within our world, bringing hope where there is dread, boldness where there is timidity, and resilience when we faint.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Your goodness, O Lord, washes over us as the cool spring rain. Grant that we might never take for granted the daily gifts you send our way, especially these particular favors we have received most recently . . . . . . . . . . And though undeserving, we exist in your reservoir of grace, knowing you stand ready to accept all these earnest petitions we now offer on behalf of your people of the Church Street community:

Joys:
-Gratitude: member healing well following eye surgery
-Prayers appreciated: friend healing following Whipple surgery
-Member celebrating a move to a new home
-Gratitude: 6-yr old with seizures has received a promising medical report
-Adult son’s living situation has improved
-Attentive family members caring for father in hospice
-One thankful for second Covid vaccination
-Thanksgiving for in-person youth gatherings
-Family grateful for church support during bereavement
-All in our community working for justice and an end to violence

Concerns:
-Healing of husband’s pneumonia & shoulder fractures
-Recovering for colleague recovering from dangerous wound
-Steady healing for member with fractured femur
-Healing of painful tear in shoulder muscle
-Family grieving loss of troubled son
-Comfort for a grieving stepfather
-Friends & family of wife who died at home Tuesday
-Easing of anger & tension between neighbors
-Recovery for single mother, hospitalized with Covid
-Member mourning death of cherished sister
-Two families grappling with major issues
-Beloved father – newly diagnosed lung cancer
-Guidance for family caring for ill brother
-Continued prayers for two afflicted with lymphoma
-Proper diagnosis of long-term illness
-Healing prayers for one recovering from prostate surgery

O Friend Most Patient, forgive the times we have held back, when we have been too reticent to become involved. Give us courage, we pray, to take an active part in addressing grave issues in our own community, in our own era. Let us reach for your hand, which links us with hurting souls next door and around the world; and in true solidarity we shall pray together the words taught us by our Redeemer:

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

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Weekly Prayers of the Church Street Family – April 14

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Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family

Week of April 11, 2021

Written by Rev. Catherine Nance

O God of the Living Christ, we thank you for the opportunity to worship together. Each Sunday, some gather in the same room, sitting on the same pew; others worship on YouTube and internet. We think of Christians meeting for worship across this city and all around the world – different styles of worship. People we will never meet. People we cannot see – and yet you see us. You see our hearts, our desire to worship you – our desire to know you more fully and dearly. You see our living and our striving to be faithful disciples. Thank you for loving us and receiving us.

We are humbled in this Easter season that you call each of us into a new creation; thank you for allowing us to share in the beauty of your world. The colors of spring around us and the hints of new life reflect your joy in creation. Forgive us when we abuse your earth that you have called us to care for. Make us mindful of the animals, the plants, the water, the air – all life-giving – all connected to the other. Forgive us when we make ourselves lord over creation instead of you.

O God, we are grateful for a nurturing church community that allows us to ask questions, to wonder and to ponder. We think particularly of our Confirmation Class who met on Sunday, nearing the end of their journey but yet at the start of a new one! We are grateful for fellow disciples; those who are new to faith and bring a freshness and exuberance with their inquiries. We are grateful for those long-time disciples who bring a wisdom and patience but who still yearn to know you more deeply. May our words of faith always match our living. When people see us, O God, may they see the reflection of your love and grace.

And as a community of faith, bound together through the immensity of your love and grace, we lift up to you both our praises and our concerns this day. We are a blessed people, aware of our reliance upon your steady guidance, so receive these offerings we voice in this hour:

Joys:

-Two couples celebrate new pregnancies
-One celebrates unanticipated financial assistance
-Thanksgiving: latest scans showed no new cancer
-Grateful for church’s confirmation & youth programs
-Two tolerating lymphoma treatments well
-Gratitude for prayers: knee therapy completed
-Thankful for prayers: back surgery went smoothly
-Prayers appreciated: prostate surgery successful

Concerns:

-Patience for husband in assisted living
-Healing for member recovering from back surgery
-Continued healing for one having infusions
-Healing of painful tear in shoulder muscle
-Upholding all working for solutions to gun violence
-God’s presence with a member grieving untimely death of stepson
-Beloved father – newly diagnosed lung cancer
-Guidance & strength for one caring for an ill brother
-Ongoing prayers for one enduring cancer treatments
-Solace for family mourning sudden death of beloved sister
-Member seeks relief from a painful leg ailment
-Strength for husband whose wife may enter palliative care
-Courage & strength for friend with intestinal cancer
-Young coach at Emory desperately ill with sepsis & his 3-year-old son diagnosed with leukemia
-Continued healing & for restoration of vision
-Improvement for one suffering from anemia

Risen Christ, for whom no door is locked, no entrance barred: open the doors of our hearts, that we may seek the good of others and walk the joyful road of sacrifice and peace. We offer now the words that Christ 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.

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Weekly Prayers of the Church Street Family – April 8

Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family

Week of April 4, 2021

Written by Rev. Tim Best

Lord Jesus, you who defeated the power of death and overcame the cold darkness of the tomb, free us from our bondage to the powers of death. Just as your disciples discovered the clothes which bound you, folded and empty, empower us by your spirit to overcome the powers that seek to bind us and all creation.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Let us discover anew this day the power of resurrection. Create in us a new heart, a resurrected heart. Where the world sees defeat, let us pray for hope and trust in your faithfulness. Strengthen us that we might be a community that proclaims newness of life.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
In the midst of our Easter celebrations, we pray for a world that has suffered at the hands of a deadly disease. We pray for those who suffer, are alone, or are in any kind of trouble. Transform our hearts that we may respond with the love of Christ to the needs of our neighbors.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for our community, for Knoxville, for Tennessee, and for the United States, and for the world; guide all those who lead and make decisions that our human communities might more fully reflect your kingdom.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Remove from us the graveclothes that have bound us to hate, suspicion, prejudice, and violence. Fill us with your zeal for a just and peaceful world that we might proclaim new life by word and deed.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray that we might be renewed by your promise to raise us from the dead, just as you were raised. We pray for those who have died and ask that you would give us the confidence to trust in your resurrection power each day, that we would live and love boldly as your disciples.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
And though we can never fully understand that Love that was nailed to a tree and laid in the tomb, we know in our hearts that it reflects the depth of your concern for your children; so we bring to you our earnest prayers – both our glad thanksgivings and our challenges:
Joys
  • Thanksgiving for a new grandson
  • Gratitude: cancer victim is returning to work
  • Daughter thankful for support during father’s death
  • One thankful for financial support for ill husband
  • Outpouring of support during Lent for BOH
  • Gratitude for in-person worship
  • Thankful husband recovering in rehab facility
  • Prayers appreciated: friend with pneumonia is improving
  • Multiple members express gratitude for church’s worship team
  • Three offer thanks to church for vaccination help
Concerns
  • Pray for a mother who is making poor decisions
  • Recovery for member – serious back surgery
  • Peace & healing – member facing prostate surgery
  • Healing for husband with shoulder injury
  • Ongoing prayers for one enduring cancer treatments
  • A husband who needs encouragement
  • For a miracle to heal a painful leg ailment
  • Healing for two with lymphoma
  • Courage & strength for friend with intestinal cancer
  • Continued prayers for healing after eye surgery
  • Continued healing for two alcoholic sons
Train our hearts that when we, like Mary, hear your voice, we would recognize it and obey. In obedience to you, Christ Jesus, we join our prayer to that prayer which you taught us:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

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O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

Daily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC

Friday, April 1, Morning

By Mrs. Laura White, March 17, 1978

O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

“O Sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down,

Now scornfully surrounded with thorns, thine only crown;

How pale thou art with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn!

How does that visage languish which once was bright as morn!

What thou, My Lord, hast suffered was all for sinners’ gain:

Mine, mine was the transgression, but thine the deadly pain;

Lo, here I fall, my Savior! ‘Tis I deserve thy place;

Look on me with thy favor, vouchsafe to me thy grace.

What language shall I borrow to thank thee, dearest Friend,

For this thy dying sorrow, thy pity without end?

O make me thine forever, and should I fainting be,

Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to thee.”

UMC Hymnal #286

One of the most beloved of all the Lenten hymns is “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.” The language of the hymn is intensely personal, as each believer is invited to consider the suffering of Christ for mankind’s salvation. The pictorial details of the first stanza are very graphic, almost as if the viewing of a picture of Christ on the cross prompted the poet’s words. He sadly views the grieving figure and notices the crown of thorns, the pale countenance, and the mournful expression. In the second stanza the speaker addresses this dying Christ with the realization that the pain suffered by his Savior was patiently endured even though the transgression and sin belonged to another. The third stanza turns to a note of thanksgiving and dedication, as the poet purposes his own life and love to be directed to this One whose life was freely given that man might have an access to God each day and a hope of life with Him forever.

Prayer

O God, in this Lenten Season, may we also “see” our suffering Savior. May we realize that His victory over suffering has made it possible for us to experience His resurrection power in our lives today. As we receive greater insight into His suffering, may we see our sin and His provisions for salvation in the Cross.

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Evening Prayer – March 31

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

March 31, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Under soggy skies we make our way homeward, thankful that a dry dwelling is waiting to welcome us in the evening hours. Shapeless clouds have lingered low throughout the day, providing none of the inspiration of the yellow sun.  Within the dullness, however, we have sensed your working on our behalf, Forever Friend, particularly in these instances: . . . . . . . . . .  And as you have been cleansing and revitalizing the earth with your spring droplets, you have been widening impassable avenues and opening doors shut tight. Praise be to you!

Suffering Servant, these final days of Lent are hardest for us, for as we draw closer to your suffering, we realize we need more Lenten time to conquer our own weakness. We still lack the courage to stand up to the naysayers; we fear our own rejection by the crowds; and, deep down, we know that we too are capable of deserting you in your final hours. In the end, though, we remember you did not forsake your fickle friends, but strengthened them and turned them into faithful disciples. By the immensity of your grace, transform us also into strong and useful vessels, we pray, pouring out courage and fortitude to all timorous ones, that together we might boldly proclaim you to the world as Redeemer and Savior.

As Mary stood weeping beside the empty tomb, you know all those whose tears still flow today.  Touch those everywhere, we pray, who are too traumatized to even utter your name. Steady those who are shaken by natural disasters and those whose dreams are shattered. You are in the business of making all things new, so implant your assurance in each hurting soul, we pray, that this Easter Season may be a time of rebirth for all. Have mercy, O Christ, upon all who are in need of your presence, especially your children at Church Street UMC:

  • Prayers appreciated: Hip replacement was successful
  • One grateful for visit with out-of-town daughter
  • Gratitude for a new housing arrangement
  • Family thankful for vaccine made possible by church
  • Thankful that initial visits with specialists in Nashville were promising
  • For a miracle to heal a painful leg ailment
  • Proper diagnosis for intestinal malady
  • Solace for families who mourn
  • Healing of violence in our communities
  • Healing for one suffering with fractured shoulder
  • Member in treatment for lymphoma
  • Courage and strength for friend with intestinal cancer
  • Guidance for one involved in a new course of study
  • Young family broken by alcoholism
  • Continued prayers for healing after eye surgery
  • Courage for one transitioning to new home
  • Continued healing for an alcoholic
  • Dear friend having medical tests

May your holy rest encompass us this night, and all whom we love, Dear Lord, for we turn over to you all our cares and anxieties. And somewhere in the shadowed hours, remind us that we still belong to you, no matter what we may have done or failed to do. In that assurance, we shall sleep soundly, praying as Christ himself taught us:

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

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Evening Prayer – March 30

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

March 30, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Here in the shadowed silence, our thoughts turn to you, Blessed Lord.  Another day of grandeur you have provided out of your own benevolence.  There were moments when we were speechless when we beheld the spring glory.   And even if we passed by the marvels of the daylight, Brother Moon, round as a saucer, has kept watch from his chosen corner these first evenings of Holy Week. We praise you for your visible presence, Unfailing Friend, though we long to be those who live by faith alone and not by sight.

Anointed One, in your final days in this realm, we member how Mary stole soundlessly into the home of Simon, and how, out of her deep love for you, she poured the costly ointment upon your feet at suppertime. Hers was an extravagant gesture of risk, yet she boldly demonstrated where her devotion lay.  Her courageous actions are a template for the cost of discipleship. As we move through these sacred days, may we be bold enough to ask ourselves if we would give up our most precious possessions, our status, our independence and control to follow our Savior.  We pray that our private meditations this hallowed week might lead us to answer with candor and humility, and that our communal worship services might be counted as fragrant offerings to you.

Gracious Lord, as you touched so many with your grace during your final days of your earthly walk, we ask that you would ease the hearts of those who suffer this day, and particularly accept the gratitude and the concerns and offered by members of our church family:

  • Family offer thanks for church support in bereavement
  • Thankful for prayers: Eye is healing
  • One expresses gratitude for a faithful friend
  • One celebrates promising medical report
  • Gratitude: God’s guidance in a career move
  • For a miracle to heal a painful leg ailment
  • Prayers for member having hip replacement surgery Wednesday
  • Solace for families who mourn
  • For community to work together to end violence among our vulnerable youth
  • Healing for one suffering with fractured shoulder
  • God’s healing: Young couple’s miscarriage
  • Courage and strength for friend with intestinal cancer
  • Gratitude: Son’s Covid test was negative
  • Guidance for one moving into a new course of study
  • Young family broken by alcoholism
  • Continued prayers for healing after eye surgery
  • Continued healing for an alcoholic
  • Dear friend having medical tests in Murfreesboro
  • Sustaining family of ill 6-year-old

As we close our day, we thank you, Most Holy God, for gathering us into a beloved community, for in your wisdom, you knew we would need one another as we traveled this long Lenten journey. Cast your warm moonlight over us as we rest this night, anointing us with its creamy glow. We would be made whole for Christ’s sake, and we offer these prayers in his name, praying as he taught us:

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

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Evening Prayer – March 29

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

March 29, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Evening Presence, you slip in so quietly we sometimes miss your deepening footprints across the sky. Indeed, it is difficult to bid farewell to a day of sunshine and glory, so reflective of your own essence, O Holy One. Scripture tells us that one day whispers its secrets to the next, and perhaps those secrets are carried by the night breezes over the mountain of darkness, and into the hands of the awaiting patient dawn. Constant One, your message of grace goes out through all the earth and you come to us again and again.  May we become wise enough to watch and to wait.

At eventide this Holy Monday, we set aside the buzzing of the world and turn our thoughts to you, O Christ, remembering the lonely journey you chose to take out of your immense love for all people.  The cheering of the palm-waving crowd had already stilled by the time you took those first steps through Jerusalem’s gates. We marvel at the depth of your courage and your compassion.  And soon enough we stragglers would learn the truth you carried inside yourself: that weakness and vulnerability form the solid base for spiritual strength.

Day to day and night to night you bring us mercy and hope, Loving Lord. Even today, when our vanities got in the way, you penetrated them to touch our souls.  Especially we remember these particular graces you made possible. . . . . . . . . .

Scatter away all those false expectations we have of you, that we might open ourselves to whatever you have to teach us.  Through heartbreak and remorse, through calamity and even death, rich lessons are to be learned; and it is you, Invigorating God, who waits to breathe new life into us.  Breathe upon all these souls, we pray, who find themselves at a crossroads.  Breathe upon all who place their praises at your feet:

  • Thankful for prayers: Sister-in-law with double mastectomy will not be required to undergo radiation or chemotherapy
  • Prayers appreciated: Lymphoma treatment will not be invasive
  • Family thankful for safe weekend travel
  • Gratitude: Latest scans show no spread of cancer
  • Thankful for prayers: Knee repair is healing well
  • Thanksgiving for church’s remarkable music ministry
  • Grace and healing for member having prostate surgery
  • Comfort for family mourning death of beloved uncle
  • God’s healing: Young couple’s miscarriage
  • Courage and strength for friend with intestinal cancer
  • Son awaiting Covid test results
  • Healing for family of toddler who drowned a few days ago
  • Young family broken by alcoholism
  • Continued prayers for one following serious eye surgery
  • Continued strength for son fighting alcoholism
  • Dear friend having medical tests in Murfreesboro
  • Sustaining family of ill 6-year-old
  • Husband facing third hip replacement

As we take our rest, Blessed Cup of Mercy, bathe us with forgiveness and pour out peaceful rest upon us. The coming days of your passion will be heavy, but your showers of mercy will restore our strength. And when morning comes, we will seek you early and serve you in the name of our Savior, 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.

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Evening Prayer – March 25

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

March 25, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Windblown and wavering, we have made it through this rain-drenched day. Thanks be to you, Nurturing God, who sends both sun and showers that the earth itself might be reborn! Even amid the dark clouds you are exhaling newness and grace. We praise you for befriending us and for calling us homeward in the dimming light.

You have made us our brother’s keeper and our sister’s also; therefore, we pray you would touch with your mercy all who have experienced extreme pain in recent days: the Asian families whose loved ones met their deaths at the hand of a bigot; the slain teenagers in our city whose murders have left their families and friends in despair; the stunned relatives of the slain victims in Colorado; and all the repressed and brutalized ones across the globe.  Give us wisdom and courage, we pray, that we might help break this chain of misery. And as we remember all who are bound in the grip of evil, we also remember these in our church family who express their own wounds and their own thanksgivings:

  • Prayers appreciated: Cherished mother died peacefully yesterday at 104
  • Family of four celebrates vaccination help from church
  • Thanksgiving for work of our Stephen Ministers
  • Praises: Family of three are steadily improving from Covid
  • Prayers for loving family carrying a heavy burden
  • Comfort for member in hospice care and his family
  • Prayers that a son’s upcoming Covid test will be negative
  • For a son to seek help for his alcoholism
  • God’s work in reconciling a broken relationship
  • Prayers for alcoholic son in first week of detox
  • Upholding church families in mourning
  • Healing for two who are suffer with lymphoma
  • Proper diagnosis of ill first-grader
  • Peace for one facing prostate surgery
  • Grace and peace for husband facing third hip replacement
  • Healing for dear friend, relief from depression
  • Prayers for healing from eye surgery

Soon eager hands will be trimming palm branches, and crowds will swell to hail the coming of God’s own Son.  In homage to this Humble One, even cloaks and olive branches will be spread along his path to the city gates. Grant that we would be there also, Lord, waving our palms in hope; but rather than spreading cloaks at the roadside, let us prostrate ourselves, contrite in spirit, praying for courage to travel with Jesus each of his final days. It will be a bitter trek, yet this leg of the journey is the straightest route to discovering for ourselves the cost of discipleship.

Gather our prayers in the stillness, Holy One, as we prepare to rest under your umbrella of protection. And as we sleep, we ask that we might we empty ourselves of everything that keeps us from following you. Then, arising with freer souls, we will meet you at the edge of tomorrow, palm branch at the ready, to begin our travels afresh.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

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Evening Prayer – March 24

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

March 24, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Caring Comrade, as the steady moon stands watch and evening floats in upon our harried world, you bid us come home to you. You stand at the door in welcome, inviting us to pull up a chair and rest with you for a while. There are few others with whom we can share so freely, few who would understand the concerns that bear down upon us, and few who could grasp the dreams that live in our hearts. With gratitude, let us take that seat beside you and disclose those personal aspects that would interest only our Dearest Friend. . . . . . . . . . .  Of all the things for which we hunger, only the food of your presence truly satisfies.

Faithful Spirit, send your peace upon all who are plagued by illness or trauma this eve. Envelope those who are heartbroken, lonely, confused or despondent, and move as the night wind through their lives, leaving sparks of hope in your wake. As Jesus promised your ever-present comfort, surround these friends of Church Street who voice their own concerns; and also receive the acknowledgements from those whom you are already sustaining:

  • Prayers appreciated: Eye surgery went smoothly
  • Gratitude: Knee is healing well following surgery
  • One thankful for a longtime faithful friend
  • Couple celebrate vaccinations secured by church
  • Thanksgiving for our pre-school ministry
  • Thankful that one continues to improve following heart surgery
  • Comfort for two members in hospice care & their families
  • God’s work in reconciling a broken relationship
  • Prayers for alcoholic son who entered rehab today
  • Family mourning death of cherished mother
  • Healing for two who are suffer with lymphoma
  • Guidance and comfort for family of ill first-grader
  • Peace for one facing prostate surgery
  • Grace and peace for husband facing third hip replacement
  • Healing for dear friend, relief from depression
  • Prayers for healing of vision
  • Comfort for one recovering from knee malady

Heart of Forgiveness, we began this forty-day venture of challenge and introspection sincerely aiming to get it right this time. Some days it worked out that way, thanks to your patient guidance. But truthfully, we wasted precious moments nursing our pride and keeping score.  Write your pardon over our mistakes, we pray, and grant that we might walk honorably and faithfully these last miles to the Holy City to pay homage to our Savior.

Depending upon your forgiveness, O Lord, we take our rest tonight. May your angels of mercy guard us, and those whom we love, for you have assured us that you are only a heartbeat away. Receive all our prayers, as we offer them in the name of Christ, who taught us to pray in this way:

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

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