Evening Prayer – February 1

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

February 1, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Wait on the Lord, be of good courage

and he shall strengthen your heart;

Wait, I say, on the Lord. (Ps 27:14)

O Great Silence, you live beyond the realm of words, in that space we rarely visit. Turn off that spigot of chatter that floods our minds and our mouths, and for this one evening may we join you there to merely keep company with you in your deep mystery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Teach us the beauty of regular resting in you, that we may learn what true restoration is. In our culture where highest praise is directed to production, remind us that we are esteemed by you each time we seat ourselves at your feet and take in whatever glories you choose to whisper.

Once filled with summer’s happy green fans, the oak’s bare branches now wave to us through the windowpane. The empty trees take their losses with more grace than we, knowing in their ancient wisdom that fretting is futile. Our own losses these past long months have been bitter, and we find it difficult to open our hands and let them fall freely as fragmented leaves. But, Nourishing God, as you enrich the soil with leafy shards, so use our shredded despair and broken dreams to fortify us. We may never stand as stately as the oaks, but you will make us strong enough to lean into the winter winds, as we wait for your next season of greenness.

Within your great silence, you have heard the cries of our hearts and have blessed us in many ways. We pray that, as you already have bolstered the spirits of many, you would attend also to these friends and families whose hope is in you:

  • Three celebrate recovery from Covid
  • Thankful family members have received vaccines
  • Gratitude: Husband’s depression is lifting
  • Thanksgiving: Mother discharged from hospital
  • Prayers appreciated: Young niece with infection now home
  • Gratitude for prayers: Son was able to visit his dying mother
  • Thankful that a heart malady is improving
  • God’s grace for colleague whose cancer has spread
  • For insurance to cover chemotherapy
  • Comfort and grace for those who mourn
  • All who need virus vaccines
  • Blessings upon all healthcare workers and volunteers assisting with vaccinations
  • Prayers for shrinkage of pancreatic tumor
  • Comfort for family grieving death of mother
  • Decreased pain for cancer victim
  • Healing mercy for sister recovering from surgery
  • Two recovering from serious heart issues
  • Infant cousin with tumor on spine
  • Continued prayers: One enduring chemo
  • Strength for caregiver under great stress

May your Silent Spirit rest our minds and hearts as we sleep, calming our fears and erasing our sins. Fold us and all whom we love into your embrace, we pray; and tomorrow, may we rise forgiven and free to serve in the name of Christ, 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 – January 28

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

January 28, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Ah, Lord, you have brought us safely once again to the edge of twilight, where we must confess we are an absent-minded people. Even today we failed to notice your song delivered by the bird on the windowsill, the gleam of sunlight filling a room, the parting of the clouds revealing an ocean-blue sky, the family of stately evergreens huddled close to shield us from the wind. But then, you are the God of Second Chances, so you will help us keep our eyes open wide tomorrow for those flowers of grace you keep unfurling, even in our era of bleakness.

God of the Ordinary, we long to do something of immense significance in improving our world’s vast needs. We cannot resolve homelessness, but we can lend a hand or financially support Habitat projects.We cannot fill every empty belly on the planet, but we can feed our neighbors at Soup Kitchen and Beacon of Hope. We cannot cure cancer and all injurious diseases, but we can send notes to and offer prayers of comfort for the hurting. We often wonder how our small acts actually dent these monumental challenges. Only Jesus knows, and it is in his name that we perform our small deeds in the ordinary ways open to us.

In our ordinariness, Lord, ease our anxieties when we feel we aren’t doing enough, and remind us you are making changes in individual lives and situations, not we ourselves. We rejoice at the ways you blessed us this day, especially in . . . . . . . . . . , while we also ask your forgiveness for the slights we may have inflicted upon others . . . . . . . . Glory to you, Lord Christ!

As the mundane becomes glorified through Christ, we offer these prayers especially for . . . . . . . . . .  and on behalf of your people at Church Street:

  • Ten members offer gratitude to church for helping them acquire virus vaccinations
  • Member grateful for amazing support in her bereavement
  • Grandmother grateful for church’s spiritual guidance and nurture of her grandson
  • Thanksgiving: Infant tolerating cancer treatments well
  • Family of four celebrate recovery from virus
  • Thanksgiving that lung radiation is well-tolerated
  • God’s grace for dear colleague whose cancer has spread
  • Comfort for sons: Beloved mother nearing death
  • Member with cancer, for improved red blood count
  • Pray that son might be able to see his hospitalized mother before she succumbs to Covid
  • Prayers for colleague: Shrinkage of cancer so surgery may proceed
  • Healing for cherished cousin, stroke victim
  • Prayers for clarity for overwhelmed wife
  • Husband struggling with depression
  • Decreased pain for cancer victim
  • Three recovering from serious heart issues
  • Infant cousin with tumor on spine
  • Strength for two mothers: Sons gripped by addiction
  • Continued prayers: One enduring chemo
  • Strength for two weary caregivers
  • For insurance company to approve chemo

O Keeper of the Night, offer your mercy to all your children whose burdens are heavy. Cloak us in holy rest under the beam of the full moon, for we turn over ourselves, and all whom we cherish, into your care. And may our final thoughts before sleep be filled with gratitude, as the prayer of your Son sings in our hearts:

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 – January 26

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

January 26, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

. . . Beloved,  whatever is true, whatever is honorable,

whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing,

whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence

and if there is anything worthy of praise,

think about these things.

Philippians 4:8

 

O God of Clarity, much of today was convoluted. Projects were initiated, then abandoned; simple tasks turned out to be knotted with baffling details; and throughout the hours there was a steady stream of interruptions. All these dashed our hopes of producing anything of value. Take these disordered pieces and false starts, we pray, and infuse them with some sort of meaning; and whatever effort you find worthy, may it serve your purpose in your own good time.

You have called us to walk that road of discipleship that is paved in humility. We freely admit that we have wobbled along that narrow passage that leads to the kingdom, for pride calls out from the wayside, tempting us to toot our own horns. There were those side trips of ego that lured us into criticizing others who had lost their way, and of course there were many jaunts when we insisted on having our own way. Make strong and steady our gait, Lord, along the straight and narrow. We would keep pace with Jesus, that eventually we may arrive at your door to hear your words:  “Well done, thy good and faithful servant.”

Noble One, in the peace of this beautiful evening, as magenta streaks on the horizon turn to ash, we do think of those things of which the apostle spoke: the pure, truthful, commendable, and that which is worthy of praise. . . . . . . . . . .  All these we celebrate and attribute to your benevolence, evidence of your holiness at work among us. Train our eyes and our thoughts to behold all that is honorable within our days and to dwell upon them. And in the spirit of thanksgiving, we turn to you with our gratitude and our concerns, praying on behalf of our friends at Church Street:

  • Grateful for sunshine today that uplifted spirits
  • One thankful for support of her SS class
  • Son thankful for all who brought comfort in bereavement
  • Couple offer gratitude they sustained only mild cases of virus
  • Healing of son who entered a detox program
  • Beloved mother nearing death
  • Solace for member mourning death of a beloved brother
  • Healing for cherished cousin, stroke victim
  • Friend’s mother traveling to MD Anderson for treatment, wisdom for physicians involved
  • Guidance and wisdom for our President and our nation’s leaders
  • Continued prayers for three recovering from serious heart issues
  • Healing: family of four positive for Covid
  • Courage, guidance, and healing: A cousin’s infant diagnosed with a brain tumor, in treatment
  • Strength: A mother weighed down by son’s addiction
  • Healing for husband in deep depression and wife who suffers
  • For wider distribution of virus vaccine
  • Continued prayers: One enduring chemo
  • Father mending from broken hip
  • Strength for two weary caregivers
  • Comfort for one whose mother died of cancer and Covid
  • For insurance company to approve chemotherapy

Draw together our collective evening prayers, along with our blunders and uncertainties, we pray, and cast your coverlet of comfort upon us to heal our brokenness and to keep us warm this cold winter night. Keep your life-candle burning for us and for all whom we love, O Lord, that we might join you joyfully tomorrow – in that new day where impossibilities become possible:

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 – January 20

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

January 20, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Blessed One, night tiptoes in softly across the fields and the city streets, altering both the landscape and the perspective of anyone wise enough to notice. Change is in the air, though in our weakness, we struggle against it. Observing the shaded clouds drifting by, we realize how stagnant our spirits have grown during this past year of pain and loss. We have all been injured in one way or another, and when we are bruised and broken, we cling to the familiar.

God of Wide Horizons, lift us up above our own personal interests, we pray, and spread our concerns wider than ourselves. Take away our complaining mantras and turn them into fresh, life-giving songs. And by your grace, lend us your courage, that we might step outside the predictable to discover the less-traveled byways, leading to new beginnings.

If this historic day has taught us anything, it is how expansive is our nation, how diverse are its people, how precious is our form of government, how complex are our challenges, and how vital is your holy guidance. As a mother blesses a son when he departs from home, as a father prays for a daughter to make the right choices, so do you, Loving Parent, long for us to make wise choices and you pray we will bless others as you have blessed us. Grant us courage to live out the promises we made in our hearts during today’s momentous Inaugural Ceremony, that we might become in truth “One Nation Under God.”

Accept these evening petitions, Faithful Father, and cover with your compassion each of these friends who lay their praises and their wounds at your feet:

  • Gratitude: A hope-filled Inauguration Day
  • One celebrates receiving a virus vaccination today
  • Thanksgiving: Vaccinations arrive at a nursing facility
  • Gratitude for our nation and a peaceful transition of power
  • Grateful for prayers: Employer with asthma and Covid much improved
  • Prayers for distraught mother and her son with addictions
  • Healing of older sister, diagnosed today with Covid
  • Upholding one with serious heart issues
  • Protection and holy guidance for our President and Cabinet
  • Prayers for outgoing President and team members
  • Healing of nerve damage following surgery
  • Prayers for young member suffering from Covid
  • Widening of vaccine distributions
  • Two young mothers in need of employment
  • Recovery for cousin suffering effects of major stroke
  • Healing for brother hospitalized (Covid)
  • Strength and courage one facing chemo
  • Shrinking of a pancreatic tumor
  • Help for a sister, exhausted with caregiving
  • Strength for one enduring chemo side effects
  • Comfort for a member who is seriously ill
  • Recovery for husband with Covid

There are times when we forget who we are and whose we are. But throughout the sleepy hours as we take our rest, you will assure us that we are your chosen ones who belong solely to you. Cover us and all whom we love with your mercy, that we might rise tomorrow to become the channels of blessings we have pledged to be. For Christ’s sake, we make our prayers:

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 – January 19

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

January 19, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord;

and the people whom he has chosen as his own.

Psalm 33:12

Good and Holy God, we come to you in prayer with our souls wide open, seeking your mercy and your grace. You have blessed us greatly and have dealt with us kindly all our days.  Words fail us as we bow in gratitude for our families, our friends and neighbors, and all who care for us, for our church, for the privilege of worshiping you freely, and for the miracles of our very lives. As the deepening shadows blanket our corner of the universe, we reflect upon the personal gifts you made possible this day just past  . . . . . . . . . .   May our prayers of thanksgiving join with all those hearts beating with praise for your goodness. Though we are undeserving, you have chosen us as your own!

All-Knowing One, our country now stands on the threshold of a new era. Tomorrow the inauguration of our recently elected President will bring celebration, hope, and excitement for millions. But on the other hand, there will be multitudes who remain anxious, saddened, angry, and fearful of the future. May your spirit of cooperation and respect color this sacred ceremony and permeate the heart of each participant and attendee. May your holy protection cover all, melting hearts of stone and holding back the hand of violence. We cannot predict what twists and turns may be ahead for us; but as we are all bound together through the enduring love of Christ, we lean upon his wisdom and grace to help us build a future that mirrors that love.

Faithful Guardian, we lift up our new President, who will pledge to protect and defend the rights of all citizens, especially the weak and most vulnerable among us. Concomitantly, may we pledge to rise above our private politics to seek the larger vision of your will for our nation most blessed. And confident that you accept every prayer offered in earnest, we make these intercessions on behalf of your people of Church Street:

  • Thanksgiving: Mother released from hospital today
  • One celebrating birth of a healthy nephew on Sunday
  • Member thankful for upcoming visit with her aging parents
  • Grateful for prayers: Granddaughter recovered from virus
  • Gratitude: Two friends recovered from the virus
  • Thankful for husband’s release from hospital following surgery
  • That equanimity will reign throughout the Inauguration
  • Protection and holy guidance for our incoming President and Cabinet
  • Prayers for employer with asthma and Covid
  • Speedy distribution of the virus vaccines
  • Two young mothers in need of employment
  • A cousin suffering from a major stroke
  • Healing for brother hospitalized (Covid)
  • Strength and courage one facing chemo
  • Help for a sister overwhelmed with caregiving
  • Upholding one: Chemo treatment tomorrow
  • That trial meds may bring comfort to a member
  • Recovery for husband with Covid
  • Comfort and direction for all who mourn

Our prayers must often seem as babblings to you, Loving Lord; our trite words may even break apart and scatter upon the floor.  But still, we know you want to take our hand in friendship and listen when we call. So gather us in, we pray, and we shall lie down in peace and take our rest, remembering the words of the Abiding One who said: “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”

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 – January 18

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

January 18, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Mountains have a dreamy way

of closing up a noisy day

In quiet covers, cool and grey.

(Leigh Hunt)

O God of Presence, the greyness settles in across our beloved mountains and calls us home, much as the farmer leads his herd into warm stalls at dusk.  Thank you for calling us to set aside our temporal pastimes and turn our thoughts to the eternal.  May we welcome your invitation to silence an often blustery day, recalling the overlooked gifts these past hours have presented . . . . . . . . . . All praise be to you for the goodness that colors our lives!

O One Who Summons, today our nation has honored your modern prophet, Martin Luther King, Jr., one who freely sacrificed his own health, comforts, and his very life to show us a better way. Although we may not be as gifted as he, you have summoned each of us to live into your dream: Where we find hearts fearful, may we impart courage.  Where there is distress, let us speak of peace with love. Where impossibilities close every door, let us open windows of imagination.  And where distrust thrives, may we plant reconciliation. Alone, O Lord, our efforts would be hollow; yet through your power, all things are possible.

Our earthly pilgrimage takes us along rough terrain, but as Jesus entered the world as one of us, he also traveled those craggy byways and suffered setbacks beyond our comprehension. The Blessed One asks no more of us than he asked of himself. So as we bear our trials and our temptations, remind us that you are with us as we make every limping step.  You are even near enough to hear these private longings of our hearts . . . . . . . . . . . and also these praises and petitions of your children at Church Street:

  • Prayers appreciated: Wife requires no surgery
  • Family celebrates the birth of a new baby
  • Member offers praises for her new home
  • Two offer thanks for their vaccinations
  • Thanksgiving for an unexpected gift and visit
  • Gratitude: Sister-in-law hospitalized with Covid is much improved
  • Gratitude for successful heart surgery; continued prayers for complete recovery
  • Prayers for insight and humility for our nation’s leaders at this critical juncture
  • That equanimity will reign throughout the inauguration
  • Prayers for employer with asthma and Covid
  • Healing mercies for a cousin following a major stroke
  • Family grieving death of a mother from Covid
  • Speedy distribution of the virus vaccines
  • Upholding dear sister, isolated and very depressed
  • Sister overwhelmed with caregiving
  • Two who endure chemo side effects
  • Young mother who needs employment
  • Healing of one recuperating from heart surgery
  • Comfort for family of a pastor who died on Thursday
  • Healing: Husband seriously ill with Covid
  • Prayers for a good lab report for sister
  • One awaiting approval for chemo meds
  • Friend:Healing of wounds from car wreck
  • Granddaughters recovering from Covid

Bundle all our prayers, Sacred One, and fashion them into a pillow of grace. And upon it we will take our rest, knowing you will keep us and all whom we love in the security and eternity of your embrace. We close our eyes in awe and thanksgiving this night with the prayer of Jesus upon our lips:

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 – January 14

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

January 14, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Portal of Life, even before our birth, your gentle rapping was taking place upon the door of our hearts; and as time passed, that rapping came to us in the form of a nudge, a whisper, a vision of some presence beyond ourselves.  And as your calling unfolded, we placed our souls in your care, trusting that yours was the authentic foundation on which to build our lives. You have never failed us, Living God, and we remain humbled by your constancy.

In the January stillness, the night sky speaks to us.  What might lie behind that doorway to heaven, we wonder? We know there is energy there, and a life-giving force that ordained and sustains everything within that astonishing, celestial sphere. And even above that vast plain, stretching billions of miles, you are there, Shining One, concerned with even our fleeting thoughts and dreams. Yes, we are puzzled when we reflect upon the intricacies of your love; but we rejoice that we finally answered your knock and opened the door to our destiny.

We are only one speck in your grand universe, Sacred Designer, yet through your grace it was upon this earth that Jesus chose to dwell, showing us how to live as people of God.  His life gave witness to your own unwavering love, while we have fomented dissension, disquiet, and distrust in recent days, especially in our own land.  Have mercy upon us, we pray, and forgive our errant ways.  Wipe away all our missteps, especially . . . . . . . . . . Clear our vision and unite us in your wisdom, that we might be among those who build a future free of arrogance and suspicion.

In your mercy, receive these silent prayers of our hearts . . . . . . . . . . and also these praises and concerns offered on behalf of our friends at Church Street:

  • Prayers appreciated: A broken leg has mended well
  • One in isolation is thankful for prayers
  • Gratitude for prayers: New meds seem to be working well
  • Thankful that vaccinations taking place at a nursing facility
  • Insight and humility for our nation’s leaders, that they may look to God as their model in serving others
  • For help to arrive: Sister overwhelmed with caregiving
  • Prayers for successful heart surgery Friday
  • Sustaining one enduring chemo side effects
  • New employment for young mother
  • Healing of one recuperating from heart surgery
  • That vulnerable couple may obtain virus vaccines soon
  • Healing prayers for wife and mother at Mayo’s
  • For a peaceful transition of power in nation’s capitol
  • Healing: Husband seriously ill with Covid
  • Prayers for a good lab report for sister
  • For insurance to approve a chemo drug
  • All grieving the deaths of loved ones
  • Friend: Healing of wounds from car wreck
  • Prayers for ill granddaughter and another being tested for virus

As darkness covers the earth, may we take our ease, cradling our hearts in the great mystery of your love that binds every prayer in the cosmos together. Grant us, and all whom we cherish, a peaceful night, we pray; and tomorrow, with your help, we shall rise to love, to forgive, to show mercy, to make peace, and to share the good news of Christ, who opens the door to eternal life:

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 – January 13

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

January 13, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

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.
(UMH 384)

Loving Spirit, we know that you weep when your people are deeply divided, at war with each other and within themselves; your tears fall when voices of hatred and disrespect breed instability. It seems that violence is buried deep in our bones and even makes its home in the little grey cells of our minds. Why else would we be so quick to harm and so slow to bring healing? Forgive us for failing you and one another. May our own tears join with yours until they flow into your great stream of justice and mercy. Take away out bent to sinning, we pray, and set our hearts at liberty.

God of the Starry Silence, the daylight hours whisper their goodbyes. They have been your sacred gift to us, as is this lengthening span of darkness.  Let us reflect upon the unmerited joys that you have sent our way:  . . . . . . . . . .  And grant that the good we may have done in the earlier hours give witness to your own generosity emerging through us, your human vessels. Even in the ebony hours, you gaze clearly through the window of our souls. With each passing night, we pray you might observe growing integrity, humility, and faith within.

And despite the thinness of our faith, we entrust to you all those persons and situations that are uppermost in our hearts, especially . . . . . . . . . . And in this interval of silence, we also share both the celebrations and the worries of our church family, knowing your loving Spirit is only a breath away:

  • Prayers appreciated: Friend released from hospital
  • Gratitude: Recovery from surgery has gone well
  • Thanksgiving: One’s depression has lifted
  • Member grateful – released from rehab
  • One offers thanks for continued healing from pneumonia & virus
  • For help to arrive: Sister overwhelmed with caregiving
  • Prayers for wife facing serious surgery and for worried family
  • Peaceful resolution to our nation’s bitter divisions
  • That holy wisdom may guide our country’s leaders
  • Co-worker who died from virus and his family
  • Healing -husband seriously ill with Covid
  • Courage for one beginning chemo
  • Three children grieving the death of their mother
  • Friend recovering from serious car wreck
  • Healing for teenage granddaughter with Covid
  • Family grieving sudden death of father
  • A father depressed due to isolation
  • Two healing from serious heart conditions
  • For new meds to slow the growth of one’s cancer
  • Courage and strength for one facing major surgery Friday
  • Healing for one enduring cancer treatments
  • For new employment: Young mother stunned by her layoff

Alpha and Omega, into your hands we commend ourselves, for you created and redeemed us. This night, may your grace enter every troubled breast, giving peace and rest. And tomorrow may we rise to walk that straight path you will be fashioning for us as we sleep. We ask all these things in the name of our Savior, who bears the love that never fails and 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 – January 6

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

January 6, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Thus says the Lord:
Stand at the crossroads, and look,
    and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way lies; and walk in it,
    and find rest for your souls.

(Jeremiah 6:16)

O Holy Light That Shines Even in the Darkness, hold your lantern high, we pray, that your mighty beam will shine upon those who walk bruised, burdened, and blinded through the our broken world.  Our pain is deep and we question the unease, the uncertainty, the unknown swirling around us.  Our eyes fill with tears when we view the rioting and bloodshed smeared across our computer and television screens this very eve.  Surely you weep with us, as you witness our nation, most blessed of all nations, responding to our disagreements with violence.

O Restorer of Peace, we too stand at the crossroads as did your people in the prophet’s time.   In all our unrest, help us remember that our lives are forever intertwined. Despite your steady call for peace, we confess we are not harbingers of harmony ourselves.  Too often we have allowed our egos and willful emotions to rule the day.  Save us from ourselves, O Lord, removing bitterness within, that we may again be known as ones who choose the good way and walk in it, for it is the same road traveled by the Prince of Peace.

With you, O Holy One, all things are possible.  And so we ask you to calm the discord so prevalent our Capitol.  Where there is woundedness, bring healing; where there is ruin, bring restoration; and where there is malice, bring amity. In doing so, you will be reminding us that we are your people and you are our God.

We depend upon your watchfulness, your forgiveness, and your steadfastness to see us through all our trials, and we humbly offer our gratitude. The light of your grace is made known through these joys that are shared by your friends at Church Street.  May that same grace work within these personal situations most recently expressed by our church family:

  • Family celebrates nephew’s return home after a 3-month stay in hospital with Covid
  • Member thankful her business is recovering
  • Couple eagerly await a new baby
  • Thanksgiving: One healing well from knee surgery
  • Family grateful that mother has moved from hospital to rehab
  • Pray for God’s presence with one having surgery tomorrow
  • Rest and recovery for one with heart condition
  • Healing for friend in her 7th week of hospitalization with covid
  • Healing for daughter with recurrence of cancer
  • Comfort for family whose mother died today
  • For rapid distribution of vaccine for healthcare workers and the elderly
  • Husband continuing recovery from serious heart ailment
  • Strength for member coping with chemo side effects
  • Prayers for educators and students this first week of school
  • Courage and strength for one beginning chemo on Friday
  • God’s presence with one whose medical tests were disappointing
  • For chemo to further shrink pancreatic tumor

Remind us, Good Lord, that your love bridges any distance; and even in the most remote valley of fear, our cries reach the ears of your heart. So quiet our spirits this night as we slumber in the arms of your grace, for we know Heaven’s Star watches over us and Jesus prays with 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 – January 5

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

January 5, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

 

The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim his handiwork!

Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they reveal his truth.

This unspeakably beautiful evening, we gaze at the heavens, as did the psalmist of long ago. What a mysterious twinkling umbrella you have placed above us, Great Designer, giving us your peace in the silent movement of the stars and planets. Our day has been too crowded with both the urgent and the mundane, still you have slipped in here and there, so serenely we didn’t notice.  But now under the gray-blue sky, we remember the ways in which your grace found us . . . . . . . . . .  For each of these points of light, we are profoundly thankful.

Unseen Friend, grant us pardon for not drinking in the love you so freely offered us this day. We stepped aside when we should have acted, we spoke bitter words, we set ourselves before others, we took you for granted, we were blinded by busyness. Bathe us this eve, and cleanse us of our selfish aims, especially . . . . . . . . . . Pierce us this night with the purity of the Bethlehem star, we pray, that a bit of its luster will shine through our actions tomorrow.

O Lord of the Night, there are many concerns we carry with us, for truly, you have created us to be a compassionate people. We lean on you, knowing you will catch us when our loads become too heavy and we stumble in the darkness. We turn over our inmost cares to you, especially . . . . . . . . . . and also these situations that have overtaken your children at Church Street:

  • Family celebrates an infant’s release from hospital
  • Grateful for prayers: One in rehab is now free of addiction
  • Member thankful for prayers: Depression and anxiety have departed
  • Gratitude for prayers: Member is tolerating infusions well
  • One sends gratitude for all who are praying on her behalf
  • Prayers appreciated: Aging parents are finding support
  • Courage for one involved in legal dispute
  • An aunts and an uncle ill in hospital with Covid
  • Comfort for family whose father is in rapid decline
  • Upholding wife facing further medical tests
  • For all vulnerable ones to be vaccinated soon
  • Continued prayers for two recovering from serious heart ailments
  • Healing mercies for hospitalized mother
  • Strength for member enduring chemo side effects
  • Prayers for educators and students this first week of school
  • Courage and strength for one beginning chemo this week
  • Three family members recovering from Covid
  • For chemo to further shrink pancreatic tumor
  • Healing of wife in ICU with Covid

We pray that you accept these words we offer and receive all our prayers for which there are no words. As you wrap us in sleep this night, whisper to us your words of courage, that we may be bolder in bearing the story of your love through our words and deeds. We trust in the truth of the Light of the World, and pray 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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