Prayer for Today – August 20

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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Prayer for Today – August 19

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

August 19, 2020

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

 

Come down, O Love Divine, seek thou this soul of mine

and visit it with thine own ardor glowing;

O Comforter draw near, within my heart appear,

and kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing.

Creator of Love, sweep down among us once again, as you did at Pentecost, that we might inhale your very own breath. Fill our lungs, we pray, with that mysterious essence we cannot name, born of the Spirit world. Somehow when we chant the old verses which cannot be improved upon, our memories burn – the moments when your love first pricked our souls, moments when we knew beyond a doubt that our lives were irrevocably linked with yours, times when we fairly floated, so eager were we to be about your business. We know we can’t return to those rose-colored days, though these memories are hallowed, seared into our life stories. Instead you are ever doing a new thing: “Have you not seen? Have you not heard?” asked the prophet. Touch our eyes and our ears with your own glowing ardor, then we will be strangely warmed, vitally perceptive, and poised to move into your newness.

Love Divine, hear our prayer.

 

O let Love freely burn, will earthly passions turn

to dust and ashes in its heat consuming;

And let thy glorious light shine ever on my sight,

and clothe me round the while my path illuming.

O Coming Freedom, we are anchored to this earthly life with all its vicissitudes. It’s all we know for now, though Jesus speaks of that other place where God’s will is done, where bondage to earthly ways are broken. Perhaps if we simply cease our grappling for goods, power, and approval we would indeed see your kingdom come, where earth is subsumed in heaven’s glory. For now, we pray for that illumined path — but not for ourselves alone, for the Spirit gives us the mission of sharing your love with the world. Our petitions are many: for peoples existing under the thumbs of tyrants, refugees fleeing for their lives, those whose lives have been shattered because of natural or man-made disasters, families broken by the pandemic. Meet them in those lifeless places, we pray, giving growth to that everlasting ember of hope that lives deep within.

Love Divine, hear our prayer.

Still Spirit, you enfold us in your pure light, and we know your grace is quietly moving in the corners of our private lives. Receive our prayers of thanksgiving for the newness you bring; and also hear us as we name the other needs of our brothers and sisters at Church Street. Gather these, we pray, in your Spirit’s embrace:

  • Thankful that shoulder procedure went smoothly, please continue prayers
  • Mother sends gratitude for our preschool, as she is able to return to work
  • Friend rejoices, having completed long recovery following an accident
  • Gratitude for successful rotator cuff surgery on Monday
  • Nephew suffering from burns is improving, please continue prayers
  • Pray for loved ones isolated in homes & residences, for hope & endurance
  • Protection for a friend teaching in-person classes in Mississippi
  • Safety for all educators, children & youth as new school term begins
  • Two broken families, that God’s healing peace will be at work in each
  • Two with lingering cancer, for easing of pain & nausea
  • Healing of daughter ‘s increasing anxiety; a depressed daughter-in-law
  • Continued healing & lifting of spirits of member with chronic illness
  • Three families personally infected with the virus, for healing
  • Easing of food shortage (North Korea) to prevent slaughter of family dogs
  • Protection for mother & family who presently live in fear & turmoil
  • Healing of young granddaughter in Alabama college, healing of virus
  • Family coping with death of beloved husband to the virus
  • God’s grace to encircle sister recovering from stroke complications

What we cannot do for ourselves, we know the Spirit will do for us.

Love Divine, hear our prayer.

 

And so the yearning strong, with which the soul will long,

shall far outlast the power of human telling;

For none can guess its grace, till Love create a place

wherein the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling.

Accept our breath-praise this day. Truly at times our hearts are full to bursting, but words get in the way and our gratitude is often lost in the telling. But we remember and you remember. Send us out afresh to be ambassadors of Love Divine, to our neighbors, families, coworkers, and all whom we meet along the way. In harmony may we lift the song of the Holy Spirit – unending and ageless:

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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Prayer for Today – August 18

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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Prayer for Today – August 17

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

August 17, 2020

 

Gathering God, we remain the church united, even as we pray from different locations, for we are connected by something more wondrous than the technology we employ. Your Spirit rests over us, filling us with hope and vision even in an era of social distancing. Though apart, we still listen for your voice that teaches us much about your kingdom of kindness and understanding. And as you are walking with us this day, we aim to match our pace with your unhurried steps – measured enough to notice especially those huddled in out-of-the way corners whom we need to acknowledge and bless. Help us stay true to that aim.

Lord of All, hear our prayer.

O Candle of Grace, by your tender mercy you are upholding us throughout this shadowed uncertainty. The ways of the world can be brittle, yet you offer that direction which we so desperately need. Yes, you are our Light who will lead us out of this dark tunnel of troubles. Shine on, we pray, and we ourselves now highlight the particular ways you have upheld us throughout these long months . . . . . . . . . . . . Our hearts well up as we remember the pure radiance of your grace.

Lord of All, hear our prayer.

O Spirit on the Move, the span of your work is wide, multifaceted, and is really a mystery too deep for us to understand; but we know your shining brightness is encircling all our brothers and sisters who are traveling a most somber path: those whose financial fears awaken them in the night, those wondering if their jobs will last, families torn apart by violence and mistrust, those without homes, those whose hearts have been crushed by grief, children and youth who are anxious about this school term beginning, educators and parents who long for safe places to teach and study. Yes, we are unsure of your ways, O Holy One, but we know your beam can never be extinguished.

Lord of All, hear our prayer.

Believing in your enduring mercy, our community also shares its personal concerns with you, as you care so deeply for your people. We trust all to you, asking that you work in your own way to bring healing grace.  Receive first our family’s personal thanksgivings for your divine assistance:

  • Appreciation for prayers: hand surgery on Friday was successful
  • Gratitude: the outpouring of gifts during Saturday’s Missions / BOH Collection Drive
  • Elderly friend removed from isolation, free of virus infection
  • Thankful that 3 virus tests were negative
  • Gratitude for all healthcare workers serving amid the pandemic
  • Thanksgiving for children and youth who graced us with Summer Serenade
  • Thankful that cancer surgery will be minor & illness is treatable
  • A friend’s son who died suddenly in New Zealand, comfort for broken family
  • Healing prayers for one undergoing shoulder surgery on Tuesday
  • Solace for local family grieving death of young wife to cancer
  • A young adult daughter who is lonely
  • Prayers that an ultrasound today will detect no return of cancer
  • Prayers for a very ill father in Johnson City & his family who give care
  • Healing for granddaughter, ill with virus in Alabama university
  • Healing of our nation with its deep strife, anger & fissures
  • Calming anxiety of one awaiting biopsy results
  • Beloved wife struggling with heavy cancer treatment, for healing
  • Continued healing of cousin recovering in burn clinic, out of ICU
  • Strength & guidance for husband as he cares for his very ill wife
  • Protection of health teams assisting in Texas hospitals hard-hit by virus
  • Family members in New York recovering from virus

Lord of All, hear our prayer.

O Faithful One, thank you for inviting us to lay out our broad blanket of needs and concerns before your throne of mercy. Even in our sometime shadows, you give us hands to hold and star candles to carry along the way. You are our security, Lord, and clinging to you this day, we offer that prayer our Brother Jesus framed for us so long ago:

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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Prayer for Today – August 13

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

August 13, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

O Quiet Friend, we often feel that we fail at prayer, for our words are never adequate, our phrasing clumsy, and our descriptors fall short of what we want to say. Still, you meet us where we are, and it seems you carve out ample time to spend with us, simply listening as the non-judging presence you are. You are that treasure hidden away in the field. Blessed was the day we discovered you!

Lord of Grace, hear our prayer.

O God of Many Dialects and Customs, you are aware of the divisions that separate us from other followers. Could it be that we hold merely one corner of your truth fabric through which we know your grace? Perchance each faith tradition grasps a different remnant that leads to you. If all these diverse pieces were collected, you would arrange them into a beautiful pattern, then sew them together with the sinews of your mercy. Ah, we can just imagine your fashioning this single holy coverlet, stretching far and wide.  Once gathered beneath it, the seams of your love would hold all peoples together, and all our differences would melt away. Could you begin this work today, Lord, or are you waiting for us to make the first stitch?

Lord of Grace, hear our prayer.

We freely offer our gratitude, for you ever surprise us with that second chance, that assurance that all is not lost. And, as always, Lord, we lift up those within our own church family who are in sorrow, pain, sickness, or other adversity. On this day, may each feel your light of reassurance. Steel us all with courage, we pray, to carry our burdens and to share the loads of our friends who falter.

  • Thankful for prayers: stepfather out of ICU & now at home with family
  • Appreciation for prayers: a mediation is over & many issues resolved
  • Gratitude: nephew’s cancer is stage 1 – treatable with chemo
  • Cancer survivor grateful that she is well enough to gather with family
  • Green Magnet School sends gratitude for church women making masks for the children & educators
  • Healing for granddaughter in Alabama university – has Covid-19
  • Isolated father in hospice care, comfort for his anxious daughter
  • Prayers that a breast biopsy on Friday will be benign
  • Recovery: Cousin (18) at Vanderbilt with 3rd degree burns
  • Healing prayers for member suffering debilitating effects of diabetes
  • Strength & guidance for husband as he cares for his ill wife at home
  • Healing prayers for young wife recovering from major surgery
  • Family & friends grieving firefighter co-worker who died Monday of the virus
  • Protection of health teams assisting in TX hospitals hard-hit by virus
  • A daughter in NY with virus; a son & daughter-in-law also positive
  • Son having hand surgery today to remove a poisonous fish barb
  • Rest, recovery & patience for young husband with back injury
  • Healing of a friend with diabetes, asthma & virus
  • Grieving friends & family – wife died Tuesday of cancer
  • Comfort & healing – father extremely ill, for family standing by

Lord of Grace, hear our prayer.

Although we are not worthy, you have made us members of your own family. And as such, we offer all our petitions and prayers 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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Prayer for Today – August 12

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

August 12, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

Loving Prompter, we confess we are absent-minded folk who rush past the multi-colored treasures you have hidden here and there among the varied corners of the day. Your tender beauty calls to us from the hush of the dawn to the quiet ebbing of the evening sun. But busy-ness, productivity, and acquisition call out in louder tones, and we focus upon them far too often. Help us take stock of what we have already received, knowing it is more than enough, and that everything comes from the Father who wants the best for his children. May we whistle a tune of gratitude as we tiptoe through this day-long garden of gifts.

Hope of the World, hear our prayer.

O Kind Deliverer, the great hymn names you as God of Grace and God of Glory, and asks you to rid us of our warring madness. Which designer declared violence to be in vogue? How did lawlessness become the newest fashion in this season’s collection? You can create peace and order of your own volition, Lord, but you want us to grow into your peace-loving likeness. Show us how to beat our swords into plowshares, how to spray hope not bullets, how to choose life over fear. Your Son proclaimed, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” May we be counted among them, Lord!

Hope of the World, hear our prayer.

O Voice of the Moment and of Forever, help us not slip past today as we plan for tomorrow. May we spend time considering how your grace has brought us to this hour. Erase the proud idea that we have reached this point on our own. The benefits we enjoy come from your hand and from the largesse of others. Receive our thanksgivings in the solitude of these moments, reminding us that not one was earned, but freely given  . . . . . . . Receive also these recognitions of your grace, and the petitions shared by your people at Church Street:

  • Thankful that friend in rehab facility is making steady progress
  • Gratitude: a nephew in KY well after month-long struggle with virus
  • Generosity of our members financially assisting our needy neighbors
  • Thanksgiving for a new pregnancy
  • Thankful for the life of a cherished father who died at age 97
  • Grateful for prayers: 2 in a family have recovered from the virus
  • Prayers for recovery: Cousin (18) at Vanderbilt with 3rd degree burns
  • Prayers for son-in-law to reduce his work as he recovers from surgery
  • Strength & guidance for husband as he cares for his ill wife at home
  • Healing prayers for young wife healing from major surgery
  • Prayers that a breast biopsy on Friday will be benign
  • Guidance for two children involved in custody disputes
  • A daughter in NY with virus; a son & daughter-in-law also positive
  • Prayer for healing: a stepfather in ICU
  • Son having hand surgery to remove an infected, poisonous barb
  • Rest, recovery & patience for young husband with back injury
  • Healing of a friend with diabetes, asthma & virus
  • Comfort & healing – father extremely ill, for family standing by
  • Prayers for friends divorcing & for the three children involved

By your open heart that welcomes us, by your attentiveness that comforts us, by healthcare workers who bring your healing to us, by friends who uphold us, and by your mercy that sustains us, we are blessed immeasurably.

Hope of the World, hear our prayer.

O Blessed Sanctuary, we cannot recall a time in our lives when there was an era such as this one, and some say your church will never be the same. That is likely so, but we take it to mean that you are doing that new thing of which the prophets spoke. While our building may be shuttered, you are opening the sanctuary doors of our hearts and inviting in those who previously have feared crossing our marble threshold, those who need fellowship, those who long to know heavenly and human compassion. We stand ready to become that expansive gateway that leads to your eternal kingdom. Lead on, O Lord, 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.

 

Have a prayer request?

Submit your request confidentially online, and our prayer team will be in prayer with and for you.

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Prayer for Today – August 11

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

August 11, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

Loving One, when we behold this day that you have made, there are simply no words that capture what you entrust to us in the sheer bliss of morning. Especially in the wee hours, your holiness hovers closely above your good earth. But as the hours turn, our messiness soon will stir things up again. The traffic will boom, computers will whir, cellphones wlll ring, and televisions will blare. Amid all that shuffling about, help us remember this gift of a few soundless and sacred moments, offered to us without price. May we tuck this memory into the secret pocket of our souls, and keep it safe until we learn all it has to teach.

God of Grace and God of Glory, hear our prayer.

O Conveyor of Hope, we confess that we find ourselves staggering today under the weight of the worldwide pandemic. This strain that we acknowledge has the faces of friends, family, and acquaintances whom we hold in our prayers: those who are confined in close quarters in apartments; the weakened elderly existing in cubicles in nursing facilities, especially those who are confused when only masked ones answer their calls; the homeless whose emotional needs render them more vulnerable to the disease; those whose mourning continues, having buried their loved ones without a proper memorial; those who grieve dissolution of relationships caused by financial hardship; those who remain faithful to their call to healing, even jeopardizing their own health; and those who persevere in their search for an effective preventive for this mystifying plague. Yes, the burden is massive, but remind us, Good Lord, that you bear the pain of the world, and that we are not alone. You meet us in this darkness, sending angels to strengthen us in our time of trial. “The end will come,” they whisper, “so do not fear.”

God of Grace and God of Glory, hear our prayer.

O Guiding Hand, in scores of ways you present yourself to us, though sometimes we must take a backward glance to see how far we’ve come, by your grace. Your constant care means everything to us, and we acknowledge our total dependence upon you. Thank you for the privilege of lifting our gratitude and of turning over our cares to your keeping:

  • A sister’s stress test met with good results – offering gratitude
  • Thanksgiving: for a member’s new job with an increase in salary
  • Prayers appreciated: oncologist meeting brought great hope Monday
  • Grateful for prayers: young mother’s surgery was successful Monday
  • Member praises God for bringing her a new vision during isolation
  • Prayers for recovery: Cousin (18) at Vanderbilt with 3rd degree burns
  • Guidance for parents, children & educators as school terms begin
  • Prayers for son-in-law to reduce his work as he recovers from surgery
  • Relief for two members who deal with constant back pain
  • Healing for a stepfather in ICU; a fragile sister & brother-in-law
  • Courage & tolerance for member taking new cancer treatment
  • Son having hand surgery to remove an infected, poisonous barb
  • Dear friend with cancer, caring for husband with dementia & cancer
  • Healing of a friend with diabetes, asthma & virus
  • Recovery for a family of 3 ill with virus
  • Continued healing for beloved friend recovering from cancer
  • Prayers for member involved in a divorce & for 2 broken families

We praise for your readiness to receive our every prayer. And we praise you for sending those saints among us who are living out your call to love without reserve, buoying our spirits with their witness. Show us also how to take our narrow patterns of living outside our normal path, that others might see your likeness in us. We trust the road ahead to you, for your spirit is our peace and your love is our path.

God of Grace and Glory, hear our prayer.

We bow this day, O Lord, as children of the resurrection, proclaiming with all your people around the world who sing your unending hymn: Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.

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

 

Have a prayer request?

Submit your request confidentially online, and our prayer team will be in prayer with and for you.

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Prayer for Today – August 10

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

August 10, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

God of Our Awakening, a new day comes through your grace, and with it comes your untouched opportunities. May the fresh wind of your Spirit awaken our sluggish hearts, that you might bring to life the joy you long ago rooted there. Direct us to the discovery of that new endeavor you want us to undertake, perhaps that youthful dream we let die, that spark of creativity we never acted upon, the relationship that needs to be revived. Though our endeavors may seem humble, help us remember that whatever you touch becomes sacred.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

God of Forgiveness, lighten our souls by removing the baggage of our sinful wanderings, we pray. We have grave worries for certain, but much of the time we concentrate on ourselves, forgetting those whose lives are far more fragile than our own. We pray for the residents of Beirut mourning the deaths of 160, injuries to 60,000 in the devastating blast; for the thousands in regions of Africa, India and Thailand whose homes and livelihoods are being destroyed in the raging flooding of their villages; hundreds of children kidnapped from their families in Myanmar, Afghanistan, Iraq and South Sudan to become child soldiers, human shields and slaves; for the hundreds of healthcare workers across the globe who have died in the service of others suffering from Covid-19. Save us from our indifference and complacency, Forgiving God, knowing, that, as you care for us, your own heart breaks when your vulnerable ones everywhere are in distress.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Christ our Healer, we see signs of your continuing search for the least and the lost everywhere; and gratitude wells up within us when we recall the distinct ways you are attending us. We are thankful for these current blessings made manifest in the lives of Church Streeters, and we also name our deepest needs, knowing that you are always working on our behalf:

  • Gratitude: a sister’s shoulder surgery on Friday was successful
  • Prayers appreciated: friend in TX with virus is improved & his caregiver sister remains virus-free
  • Thankful that a follow-up test at Vanderbilt Friday was all clear
  • Grateful: a sister’s leg surgery was successful, pray for recovery
  • Thanksgiving that knee surgery went smoothly on Friday
  • Please pray for guidance & peace for one facing cancer surgery
  • Prayers for young mother undergoing surgery today & her surgeon
  • That a legal proceeding will go smoothly & equitably today
  • Relief for two suffering from immense shoulder pain
  • Healing of a young mother’s emotional malady, parents who are anxious
  • Recovery for a stepfather in ICU
  • Courage & tolerance for member taking new cancer treatment
  • Healing for dear friend with diabetes, asthma, & virus
  • Recovery for a family of 3, all suffering with virus infection
  • Direction & calm for families & educators as school term begins
  • Sister & brother-in-law in frail situation, for wisdom, guidance & healing
  • Young mother continuing her struggle with Covid-19; son & husband well
  • Safety for a mother in nursing facility where virus has broken out

Help us to keep our gaze fixed upon you, O Lord, and guide our steps, as we trust  that you will not let us fall.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

This week, when we are tempted to dwell only on our own loneliness, help us reach out to others, being the community we long to have. Thank you for showing us new ways to be the church, the church alive and vibrant, witnessing to the risen Christ in times such as these.

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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Join us for a midday devotion!

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Prayer for Today – August 6

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

August 6, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

Elusive Creator, our origins are in you, and we have long yearned to glimpse your face. Is your skin a lustrous ebony, pink as a mimosa blossom, or of a yellow tint? Are your eyes multi-colored, black as coal, or green as newly mown grass? Even the great masters tried to capture your essence, though their renderings were generally as lifeless and uninspiring as our own musings. We know you are beyond description and your ways inscrutable, for the psalmist long ago declared you to be unsearchable. Still, you did create us with this curiosity. And it just may be that curiosity leads to hope, hope leads to truth, truth leads to trust, and trust leads to faith.  Good Lord, faith is what we need!

God of a Thousand Faces, because you are beyond us, we will never be able to know you completely – your radiance is more than we could bear. Rather, you choose to come as a gift, as an unexpected visitor who goes by another name: the grocer who answers a complaint with understanding; the brave nurse who takes our virus sample; the pharmacist who exhibits patience, though weariness is in her eyes; the child who blows a kiss through the window, leaving his fingerprints on the glass. Help us to be ready to receive you, Lord, opening our eyes to behold you in unknown faces. May we become as the Benedictines, who, in observing the stranger, always ask: “Is that you, Jesus? Please tarry awhile!”

Thank you for opening our hearts to the ways in which you are healing us and drawing us closer together as a family of faith. Our celebrations and our worries we freely share with you, Our Constant Hope, and with our brothers and sisters in Christ, for your grace permeates all situations:

  • Gratitude: member physician is excited to open a new practice (St. Louis)
  • Isolated member sends gratitude for all notes & calls from other members
  • Family celebrates a son-in-law’s important promotion at work
  • Thanksgiving: a father is recovering from pneumonia, now out of ICU
  • Dental worker grateful: she & coworkers have remained healthy throughout the past 3 months
  • Prayers appreciated: no blockages detected in a heart cath procedure
  • Mother thankful that paramedic daughter working in TX remains healthy
  • Pray for guidance & peace for one facing cancer surgery
  • Comfort for co-worker who has lost 3 family members to virus
  • Courage & tolerance for member taking new cancer treatment
  • Healing for dear friend with diabetes, asthma & Covid-19
  • Recovery for a family of 3, all suffering with virus infection
  • Calm, healing for cherished wife & mother having surgery Monday
  • Healing for 92-yr-old friend with virus, that illness is not transmitted
  • Sister who suffered broken leg & her husband who has lung cancer, both have diabetes
  • Young mother with Covid-19, protection for her husband and son
  • Dear friend fighting cancer & family awaiting virus test results
  • Prayers that legal mediation goes well on Monday
  • Healing – Friend in TX with virus, safety for his caregiver sister

Yes, you are veiled in mystery, O God, but we cling to our memories of Jesus, the Eternal Word, who became flesh and dwelt among us. We remember how he understood our everyday questions and problems, how he identified with the meek and shabby, and how he himself elevated the common, routine life to something sacred. Such memories are really all we need to hold us steady, so accept, we pray, all our prayers this day in the name of Christ:

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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Prayer for Today – August 5

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

August 5, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

O Master of Change, we live in an erratic era, an uncomfortable season of transition, and in one way or another, we are victims of the upheaval. But grant that in spite of what ensues, we will not give in to our fears, but will grow into that faith we have proclaimed and will arise from the dust – not as victims, but victors.

Hear us, Good Lord.

O God of Transformation, you buried grains of resilience within us long ago, reserves upon which we might rely in times of challenge. May those grains germinate in such a time as this, bringing forth those buried abilities we didn’t realize existed. Your creativity is ever-flowing, so may we dig deep to find gifts and talents that have long lain dormant. When so many ventures are impossible, let us discover those which, with your help, ARE possible.

Hear us, Good Lord.

Love Ever New, starting afresh takes raw courage, something we depend upon you to supply. With you at our side, holding our arm, we will exhibit a boldness we never before realized. New pathways, new relationships, new signs of grace await if we take that first step. May our prayers this day reflect our resolve to unearth our true potential, employing it as you have planned: working for the fulfillment of your purposes, laboring in the support of others, and always witnessing to your glory.

Hear us, Good Lord.

Silent Worker of Good, we have known your faithfulness throughout our lives, and in recent months we have keenly felt your presence.  Now we offer gratitude for those specific ways you have upheld us . . . . . . . . . . .  We bring our uneasiness and anxieties with us into your presence, as well, for Jesus told us how deeply you care for us.  So much is beyond our control, but we depend upon your divine authority to continue working for the good in each situation:

  • Grateful for prayers: premature baby now off ventilator & parents were able to hold him for the first time
  • Four friends rejoice that their virus tests were negative
  • Thanksgiving: a daughter’s cancer scans were clear following surgery
  • Thankful that a cousin’s cancer scans were clear
  • Gratitude: a once gravely ill father is now able to work part-time
  • Prayers for healing & wholeness for 2 women who suffer constant pain
  • One who is overcoming depression, for continued improvement
  • Courage for member, that new cancer treatment is effective
  • Parents carrying a heavy burden & healing of wife’s injured shoulder
  • Healing for dear friend with diabetes, asthma & Covid-19
  • Rest & endurance for adult children caring for their ill parents
  • Healing for 92-yr-old friend with virus, that illness is not transmitted
  • Young mother with Covid-19, protection for her husband & son
  • Dear friend fighting cancer & family awaiting virus test results
  • Healing & protection: 90-yr-old father hospitalized (pneumonia)
  • For God’s grace & wisdom to help re-create our broken world
  • Healing – Friend in TX with virus, safety for his caregiver sister
  • Pray for a co-worker who has lost 3 family members to Covid-19
  • Beloved husband recovering from a stroke & from the virus

We thank you for this one day, for this singular opportunity to drink of your grace, to hum your tender melody, to listen to your love language, to treasure your goodness, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. All these we learned from 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.

 

Have a prayer request?

Submit your request confidentially online, and our prayer team will be in prayer with and for you.

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