BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

September 1, 2020

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

If only, if only . . .  Lord, we too often fall into the habit of reducing our problems to one single element. If only my parents had been more loving; if only I could have afforded college; if only my spouse hadn’t left me; if only that disease had not overtaken me; if only I could have received that promotion. We spend our lives feeding that one thing that has clouded all our days. Though it is difficult, help us to understand that life, in all its complexities, cannot be reduced to one single influence. We live in the Now. And you are here with us, offering your assurance: “It is never too late for a new beginning.”

God of Newness, hear our prayer.

As we begin this day, you know, O Lord, that there will be instances that will test us, and that our weaknesses may again overtake us. In hastiness, we may speak that unkind or untrue word. In our confusion, we may err in our judgment. In our fatigue we may make victims of friends and loved ones. And though our day may be marked by false steps, we pray you would redeem whatever we do amiss and repurpose it for the greater good. And if that old “if only” mantra runs through our minds again, set us free to turn down the volume, through your miraculous grace.

God of Newness, hear our prayer.

Thank you, Good Lord, for your continued concern for our church family during these anxious times. We bring again our trials and pain to your doorstep of mercy, as you have so invited us to do. But as you breathe your newness into our pain, also receive the breath of gratitude we ourselves offer, for your mighty works have not gone unnoticed:

• Gratitude for prayers: a member’s depression is lifting
• Prayers appreciated: Two surgeries today were successful
• Gratitude: young burn victim is home from the hospital
• Thankful that member with long-term illness is regaining strength
• Gratitude: an elderly mother slated to return home from rehab
• Member gives thanks that a medical setback has been overcome
• 2 NICU babies are gaining weight, but continued prayers please
• Prayers: family with Covid-19, healing of multiple complications
• Member at Vanderbilt awaiting at-risk childbirth on Wednesday
• Comfort for family burying a beloved father & grandfather today
• Continued prayers for safety: family members living in Kenosha, WI
• Hope & healing for 2 members – cancer-related pain & nausea
• Prayers for one seeking peace from extreme anxiety & depression
• Relief of anxiety for one facing court proceeding, for dismissal of case
• Prayers for healing: 2 fathers with Covid-19, safety for their families
• A young relative & family, searching for effective cancer meds
• Healing of dear friend diagnosed with auto-immune disease
• Prayers for mother in assisted living, in very weak condition
• Daughter whose father enters hospice care today; that all goes well

God of Newness, hear our prayer.

Strengthened by the Spirit, grant that we might rise to serve Christ this day, setting aside our old ways, and singing the song of the God of New Beginnings:

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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BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

August 27, 2020

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away,
yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary
troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweigh them all.
II Cor. 3:22-24 

O Divine Parent, most assuredly the apostle’s words hit home to us who feel hemmed in on many levels. The months go by and we sense that we are losing ground – one step forward and two steps back. We thought we had mapped out our lives so well, only to look in the mirror and find that the passing years and all those unanticipated complications have taken their toll. Where is that sublime span of ease we had marked on our calendars? Will there ever come a time when we can kick back and enjoy the fruits of our labor? We tumble so frequently these days and find that we are not as strong as we thought. Sadly, our faces tell the tale. But could that be your voice we hear in the distance, Jesus? “Blessed are those who fall, yet rise and begin again.” Yes, it must be, for who else would applaud such plodding as ours?

Hear us Lord, for your mercy is great.

O God Beyond Knowing and Naming, you take little notice of the outward appearance, but concern yourself with the contours of the heart. What changes do you note within us at this point? Have those inner fields of mercy shown signs of new growth? Is the shallow river of compassion now widening its banks? Are the valleys of forgiveness a lush green, as weedy personal slights are being expunged? And those peaks of praise – are they becoming taller as we more frequently glorify your name? We pray these evidences of renewal are indeed taking place, though unseen by human eye. And if so, we will cease our fretting about the superficial and the fleeting.  Instead we will rejoice at the rejuvenation within.

Hear us Lord, for your mercy is great.

As always, Caring One, we remember the specific blessings you have delivered during this week at hand . . . . . . . . . . And as your mercy knows no end, we offer our thanksgivings into your keeping, and also these concerns of your people at Church Street:

• NICU baby is getting stronger, prayers greatly appreciated
• Thanksgiving for recent connection with an old friend
• Gratitude: recent heart tests reflect great improvement
• Grateful that surgery on Wednesday went well, no surprises
• Praises: friend evacuated by fire in CO now allowed to return home
• Prayers for member undergoing gallbladder surgery today
• Prayers for family journeying to ALA for a mother’s funeral
• Cherished father near death, peace & comfort for family standing by
• Protection of daughter & husband living near violence in Kenosha, WI
• Comfort & healing for two dealing with pain associated with cancer
• Prayers please: one seeking help for anxiety; health, family, & work issues
• A sister facing leg amputation; a sister seeking diagnosis of health issues
• Prayers for two tiny babies in NICU, grace & comfort for loving parents
• Lift up two men who need to enter treatment for addiction
• Dear friend in ICU in Charleston, losing blood, for diagnosis & healing
• Close friend, healing of heart issues; healing for young burn victim
• Healing of depression for both a daughter & a daughter-in-law
• Two husbands dealing with anxiety & depression, for healing
• Young relative searching for new medications to halt spreading cancer
• Healing prayers for a father dealing with health-related anxiety
• Close friend in ICU following surgery, that healing might come

God of All, thank you for receiving our concerns and for your willingness to be at work on our behalf. Fill us with that peace that passes all understanding this day. And open wide the windows of our souls that your mist of holy peace and transformation will flow over  us, spreading out across this land, binding up bitterness, moving across the oceans, raining down love, and enfolding your cherished people everywhere, even in lands we do not know.

Hear us Lord, for your mercy is great.

Collect all our prayers, Dearest Friend, just as you gather the pleas and praises of all your followers around the globe. We entrust them to your care, knowing you will guard them as sacred longings from your children, and that they are brought to you in the name of our Redeemer, 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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BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

August 25, 2020

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

O One Who Calls, we heard Jesus say, “Take up your cross and follow me.” These are not words we particularly want to hear, and we wonder just what our own particular cross might be. Could it be enduring the thankless job we do every day, tolerating the grumpy co-worker, or putting up with the annoying relative who repeats the same story at every gathering? In our self-pity, are we reducing the gravity of Jesus’ command? When Jesus told the crowds “Take up your cross,” we remember how many troubled followers turned away. Perhaps they understood the true cost of discipleship far better than we. Will we continue to speak for Christ when all other voices have gone silent? Are we really ready to be twisted and broken, bent and bleeding upon a cross? God willing, should such times come, may our answer be a resounding “Yes!”

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Empowering One, has the world ever been this convoluted, we ask? Has evil always been this pervasive? Have divisions ever been more bitter? Our earth seems to groan with the heaviness it carries. Bear us up on angel wings today, we pray, that we might lightly touch others who are most in danger of sinking into the bog. Help us drop your gentle seeds of hope, for sometimes a mere whiff of your glory is all one needs to awaken to life afresh, to resist the downward tug of darkness, to spring to freedom.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

O Heart of Hope, strew your seeds of hope on each one we carry in our hearts this day, for we believe in your power to change us, to make our relationships new, to save us from despair, to give us courage and strength. You meet us where we are, knowing we are of fragile frame. Forgive us for repeating our prayers for help, but we ask us to be patient in our waiting, and we try to be. Hear first our most recent thanksgivings, those benevolences you have brought our way:

• Gratitude: mother in hospice care died peacefully yesterday at home
• Thankful that dear friend’s surgery yesterday at UT was successful
• Grateful that an elderly father’s heart issues require no intervention
• Prayers appreciated: young father now home from the hospital
• A student celebrates a negative virus test result
• Prayers please: one seeking help for her anxiety; health, family, & work issues
• Prayers for a sister unexpectedly laid off from her job
• Prayers for two tiny babies in NICU, grace & comfort for loving parents
• Adult son whose addictions are breaking up his family, prayers that he will earnestly seek treatment
• Peace & support for three members awaiting cancer surgery
• Healing of depression for a daughter & a daughter-in-law
• Wisdom for all to wear masks & attend to safety measures to avoid the spread of Covid-19, especially in schools, colleges & other public places
• Two members in cancer treatment, for easing of debilitating symptoms
• A sister who searches for answers to her health problems
• Guidance for loving son who is moving his father into assisted living
• Hope & healing for discouraged close friend, awaiting heart test results
• Prayers for resilience for loved ones isolated in residences, for caregivers
• Continued prayers: a very ill father at home & a father in hospice care

O Lord, you live in that kingdom of kindness, a world where love rules over all, a world where enemies embrace, where distinctions between friend and foe evaporate in the light of your mercy. Through Christ, we have a vision of what your home is like, and somewhere in this day, may we glimpse a bit of that kingdom on this earth. And rejoicing in that hope, we offer the prayer of Jesus who taught us about that place where our will and your will are the same:

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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BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

August 20, 2020

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Heart of Heaven, you knew us and blessed us when we rested in our mother’s peaceful womb.  Through that soothing regularity of heartbeat, you were early teaching us the language of calm, preparing us for Jesus, who taught that peace is always the road to take. We often pine for that safe and secure womb where we didn’t have to make hard decisions, where violence and bloodshed were unknown to us. So much is happening around us that we do not understand. Help us to be brave enough to ask hard questions, to speak the truth, even in fear, and to be humble enough to listen to your voice speaking through others. Continue to soften the bitter edges of our faith, we pray, until our restless hearts and your heart are beating as one.

Hear us Lord, for your mercy is great.

Unlimited God, as we recall all that you continue to do for us, we confess that our concerns are too frequently insular, as we place ourselves at the hub of our daily prayers. Yes, you invited us to cast our cares upon you, but in so doing, we tend to forget that you want to do that new thing, not only in us, but in your beloved people living here or on foreign shores. We cannot limit your concern, Lord, and where you are, we must follow. Gone are the days of isolationism: We are our brother’s keeper! Help us become the catalyst for your love and light, that they will encircle our globe, even glowing in the darkest and most forgotten places. Bless those feet that carry your brightness to unknown lands; bless those hands that reach out in your name to heal and feed the orphan; bless those arms that enfold the war-weary masses who have no home; bless those tongues that boldly speak of Christ to communities with different languages and customs. We cannot even pronounce the names of most far-away stations, but you, who exist without limits, know each village, each name and each burden. And you will not rest until all your children are safely gathered in. Thank you, Lord, for honoring us by making us part of your holy mission.

Hear us Lord, for your mercy is great.

God on the Move, we come with hearts full, recognizing the ways you have been working in our lives throughout the past five months: healthy babies have been born, weddings have been celebrated, illnesses have been overcome, your gracious Spirit has embraced grieving families; worship and praise have taken place. Your love has held your church together and has taught us resilience. We realize that without your grace, we could not have come this far. Receive, we pray, our specific prayers of gratitude from your people of Church Street, and also our petitions for your hand of guidance and healing:

• Thankful for $750 raised for Wesley House through Summer Serenade
• Gratitude: a cancer survivor is improving with present medication
• Thankful that a back injury can be healed without surgery
• Gratitude for son’s launch to college out of town
• Thanksgiving for a safe travel across the country to return to Knoxville
• Appreciation for healthcare workers & 1st responders serving at risk
• Thanksgiving: happy couple celebrated 50th wedding anniversary on Saturday
• Prayers for one undergoing vein procedure today, that it will prove effective
• Pray that a beloved wounded pet can learn to walk again
• Easing of pain for member recovering from shoulder procedure
• Husband & wife who recover from illnesses in rehab facility
• Loved ones isolated in homes & residences, for hope & patience
• Success & protection for all college students & professors
• Continued prayers: a very ill father at home & a father in hospice care
• Protection for educators, children & youth, as new school year begins
• Easing of nausea & pain for one continuing new cancer treatment
• That depression may lift for two young women
• Member with chronic illness in hospital: for healing & lifting of spirits
• Comfort and endurance for all loved ones recovering from Covid-19
• Food shortage dilemma (North Korea) that slaughter of family dogs will cease

Abiding One, every so often we feel we need to apologize for sharing our many trials and challenges with you, but in our heart of hearts, we know there is no one else to whom we can turn. Truly, your capacity to receive our prayers and to lend your mercy is a marvel. Therefore, as you accept our humble utterances today, remember that we offer them with sincerest thanksgiving for the chance to turn to you in the name of our Friend and Brother Jesus, 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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BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

August 18, 2020

Rev. Jan Buxton Wade

Most of the time you seem so silent, Unknowable One. We sit beneath faint clouds in the sky and speak to you. Our prayers seem to echo out into the valley of nowhere. “Where are you?” we ask. “Are you hearing us?” we want to know. Then we restrain ourselves and empty our prayers of words, speaking only the language of the heart. And while we’re still scouring the horizon ahead for a sign, the wind rouses high in the trees behind us, leaving a chill up the spine. It is your cool reassurance: “I am here,” you say. Why should we be startled? Your joy finds us even when we are occupied elsewhere, even when our trust is wafer thin.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Trusted Deliverer, you know us as a splintered society existing on the edge. We feel that we’re traveling the fringe of a precipice, along a tight, disturbing path. Given our own inner brokenness, our rancor and resentments, we teeter unsteadily, fearing the plunge to dangerous depths below. We have no idea when your rescue teams will arrive, but where there is violence, send your peace; where there is instability, send your calm presence; where there is exhaustion, send your restoration; where there is hatred, send your abundant love; where there is mourning, send your comfort; where there is suspicion, send your wisdom. You have been faithful from generation to generation, always touching us with your astonishing grace. Yes, it’s a fright-filled journey, but you are teaching us that every road is walkable when you travel with us.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Much as stones piled high, we name those sins and missteps that have created a wall between us and our brothers and sisters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

We thank you that you are tearing down these barriers, that we might be free to grow more fully in Jesus’ likeness. And receive also our gratitude for the personal ways you have enriched our lives in recent times . . . . . . . . . . .

Your mercies astound us, O Divine One, and we sense your permeating spirit at work in the lives of our people of Church Street:

• Thankful that a mother’s hip surgery Friday was successful
• Grateful for news of another grandchild on the way
• Gratitude: member recovering well from painful eye procedure
• Thanksgiving for the birth of a beautiful grandson in Cincinnati
• Thankful that a broken family is slowly beginning to heal
• Celebrating a sister-in-law’s full recovery from Covid-19
• Prayers & protection for one undergoing shoulder procedure today
• Sister in rehab facility with broken leg & ill husband who is lonely
• Prayers & blessings: member at Vanderbilt today for therapy consult
• Healing of daughter-in-law who is depressed, guidance for husband
• Safety for member in Nashville today, for guidance on cancer meds
• Prayers for a very ill father in Johnson City & his family who give care
• Protection for mother & family who presently live in fear
• Healing of granddaughter in Alabama with virus
• Family coping with death of beloved husband to the virus
• Comfort for family of son who died suddenly in New Zealand
• Continued healing of cousin recovering in burn clinic
• Healing for nephew with testicular cancer, for proper treatment

We confess that we love imperfectly, Lord, and our gestures of faith are sometimes half-hearted. But thankfully, your work within us is not yet finished; and we pray you would refine us to become shining agents of your kingdom. Begin your inner work afresh today, for we make this request, and indeed all our prayers, in the name of Jesus, 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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