Prayer for Today – July 20

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

July 20, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

Generous are you, O God, for you overlook our scattered thoughts and those wanderings of our minds that keep us from centering on you. In these moments, may we be still in this morning’s light to simply breathe in your holy calm and breathe out our anxieties. May we breathe in your love and breath out that same love to our hurting world … Stir the air with the breath of heaven that all might feel the gentle breeze of your love at some instant of this day.

Sacred One, hear our prayer.

In the daylight we find hope, and in the late hours we find renewal as you keep watch over us. For you, O Holy One, never sleep and are always ready to wait with those whom sleep eludes. Comfort, we pray, those who cannot rest because of illness, pain, or fear; for those whose eyes will not close as they worry about finances, joblessness, straying family members; for those caregivers who cannot sleep, lest they miss the call of the loved one in need. Be with each of these, O Lord, for we know your presence can help lift all burdens. And also, hear these joys and sorrows that are brought by your children at Church Street:

  • Thanksgiving for a healthy baby daughter – born July 17
  • Gratitude for prayers – heart cath on Friday had good results
  • Surgical procedure on Friday went smoothly – prayers appreciated
  • Eye procedure went well, please continue prayers for full healing
  • 2 happy couples celebrated their marriages on Saturday
  • Strength for friend to endure 6 weeks of heavy chemo
  • Family of a young father who died on Saturday, courage & solace
  • Prayers for husband having a kidney removed today
  • Healing husband ICU on ventilator; his wife suffers kidney disease
  • Recovery for daughter w/ deep emotional scars, for troubled parents
  • A broken family, for forgiveness, understanding, & a way forward
  • Continued prayers for solid caretakers for Sterchi Lodge
  • That an effective vaccine for the virus may be found soon
  • Tiny premature baby in NICU, guarded condition & anxious parents
  • Dear mentor who is near death — grace & peace for all standing by
  • Healing for a young son & 2 close friends diagnosed with Covid-19
  • Healing for mother & daughter hospitalized with Covid-19
  • Prayers for 4 awaiting results of virus tests, for negative results

We place our trust in you, Faithful One, knowing you accept even the smallest prayer offered in humility.  We also acknowledge that all we are, all that we have, all that we know, and all we hope to be comes from your constant care.

Sacred One, hear our prayer.

Receive all our prayers offered on this day that you have given us, O Lord, and also hear again those precious words that were taught us long ago by your Favored Son:

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.

Devotion at Noon Today!

Join us on Facebook at noon today for a devotion with Rev. Catherine Clark Nance!

/by

Prayer for Today – July 17

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

July 17, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

O Wind that Moves over Mighty Mountain and Flowing Stream, you remain a hidden mystery. But how is it then that we behold you in everything we see and touch, from the arc of the rainbow to the narrow green gorge of the walking trail, from the swoop of the starling to the creeping snail, from the finite seams of the boulder to the nectar-thirsty bumble bee, from the soft purring of the kitten to the torrential downpour? You litter the landscape with such glimmers of your glory. Keep your mighty winds blowing in our direction, Lord, and move among us to keep our drowsiness at bay; we dare not miss any of those precious gems you create for us through your divine imagination.

Dearest Lord, receive our prayer.

Forgiving God, help us relinquish our penchant for controlling every circumstance and our attempts to manage everyone around us. How foolish you must think us when you see us setting ourselves up as directors upon the stage of life. Give us instead the power of self-restraint and that non-judgmental presence. May your compassion make its home in our hearts; fill us with the understanding that others are generally doing the best they can. And remind us that, through your grace, you are transforming others, just as you are transforming us.

Dearest Lord, receive our prayer.

O One Who Hears, we spill out our prayers to you so freely and wonder if you ever tire of hearing our “wants.” But the truth is, who would listen, if not for you? So as the apostle taught, we try to be constant in our conversation with you. Hear our prayers for ourselves, our private yearnings, and secret hopes . . . And receive these longings and gratitudes from the hearts of our brothers and sisters within our church family:

  • Gratitude: son’s broken leg has healed and he is back at work
  • An eye procedure went smoothly today, grateful for prayers
  • Prayers appreciated: 4 virus tests were negative
  • A mother with leukemia is responding to current treatment
  • The Spirit was present during a graveside service yesterday
  • Son with virus symptoms is steadily improving
  • Recovery for daughter with deep emotional scars, for troubled parents
  • Good outcome for a biopsy
  • Protection for all medical workers and first responders
  • Member having surgery today, for peace and a speedy recovery
  • Healing mercies: husband on ventilator, wife may need dialysis
  • Calm & patience for one having heart cath procedure today
  • Prayers for a good outcome in a couple’s mediation
  • Endurance for one with lung cancer, facing 6 weeks of harsh treatment
  • Prayers for healing of family dog, attacked by a neighbor’s canine
  • Continued prayers for solid caretakers for Sterchi Lodge
  • Healing for 2 close friends diagnosed with Covid-19
  • Mother and daughter currently at UT suffering from the virus
  • Prayers for 2 awaiting results of virus tests, for negative results

We pray for your healing grace, but should that not come, we know you will give us instead that sustaining grace that will enable us to bear all things through Christ Jesus our Lord, 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.

/by

Prayer for Today – July 16

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

July 16, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

Generous God, you offer this day to us, a day full of possibilities. Whatever we do with it is up to us. How will we use the gifts you delight in offering us? How will we respond to the challenges, the responsibilities, the interruptions that this day may present? How will we make those most of those moments of inspiration that unfold? Be with us, we pray, as we seek the sacred in our unwrapping of these waiting hours, for wherever we find ourselves, we also find you.

Hear us, Good Lord.

O Wounded One, in this interlude, we remember how your Son suffered emotional and physical abuse. Today we also carry in our hearts all those close to us who suffer in body, mind, and spirit . . . These we commend to your loving care, assured that no one is forgotten. We also ask that you would watch over all those who take our own safety to heart. Bless those who continue your holy work of healing in surgeries, hospitals, hospices, counseling rooms, and around kitchen tables; who serve in public places to retain order and protection. As Jesus laid hands on those who needed help, restoration, or blessing, place your strong hands upon all who express their sentiments to you this day:

  • Praises: 3 family members tested negative for virus
  • Happy a sister returned safely from a visit with family on West coast
  • Thankful for prayers: mother moved to hospice is now comfortable
  • Gratitude: symptoms for wife with brain mass have subsided
  • Recovery for daughter with deep emotional scars, for troubled parents
  • Pastors leading a graveside service today, friends & family who grieve
  • Calm & patience for one scheduled for heart cath procedure on Friday
  • Prayers for healing of family dog, attacked by a neighbor’s canine
  • Continued prayers for solid caretakers for Sterchi Lodge
  • Courage, healing of grief: a father whose wife has asked for a divorce
  • Healing prayers for member healing from a second leg surgery
  • Healing for a young son & 2 close friends diagnosed with Covid-19
  • Mother & daughter currently at UT suffering from the virus
  • Prayers for 4 awaiting results of virus tests, for negative results
  • Healing mercies for a member with recent eye damage
  • Courage & patience for member enduring long recovery; for his family

You work through all your disciples, so bless the hands that bring your healing touch, hearts that offer support, and heads that bow in prayer.

Hear us, Good Lord.

Merciful One, you have loved us, forgiven us, birthed us into new life, and you have set us free. May we reach out in Jesus’ name to offer others what you have given us, for it is in his name we 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.

Join us for a midday devotion today

Click here to join us on Facebook at noon for a midday devotion with CSUMC member Trent Nichols.

/by

Prayer for Today – July 15

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

July 15, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

O Sacred One, you have drawn closer to us during this period of pandemic, or maybe it is the other way around. At any rate, we have keenly felt your presence throughout these dangerous days and what a comfort you have remained. We have learned that we are not invincible nor as controlled as we pretended to be. And we have realized to the core how immense is our need for one another. We are not separate beings, but our lives are forever intertwined. How blessed we have been by friends and acquaintances who remember us, who offer solace in our isolation, who pen notes of encouragement, who pray for us, who tell us that their own lives would be empty without our own. How brilliantly you have used misfortune to bring about hope.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

O Great Physician, we thank you for calling special ones and ordaining them to be about your healing work in the world. We pray your blessings upon the hands and hearts of all who labor in our hospitals and medical facilities, those persons who stand ready to answer the emergency call, often risking their own health as they make decisions to protect the lives of strangers. Grant that we might never again take them for granted.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

As you touch each of these healing servants, we pray you also would touch each of these individuals who lift up their souls to you this day:

  • Praise and gratitude for a new job
  • Family offers thanks that a pregnancy is going well and baby is thriving
  • Gratitude: daughter working in China is now safe at home in the U.S.
  • Member grateful for staff & pastors who minister to the church family
  • Prayers for an important employment interview today
  • Calm & patience for one scheduled for heart cath procedure on Friday
  • Prayers for the recovery of family dog, attacked by a neighbor’s canine
  • Continued prayers for 2 families in custody disputes & children involved
  • Healing for a young son & 2 close friends diagnosed with Covid-19
  • Mother & daughter currently at UT suffering from the virus
  • Prayers for 7 awaiting results of virus tests, for negative results
  • Prayers for a wife with a mass on brain, awaiting procedure
  • Healing mercies for a member with recent eye damage
  • Strength and courage for 2 members recovering from serious illness

O Restorer of Peace, despite your steady call for peace, we confess we have not always been harbingers of harmony ourselves. Too often we have allowed willful emotions to rule the day. And when the spirit of unrest has entered our hearts, we lash out in swift retaliation. How frequently our egos trip us up as we try to walk beside your Son. Plant your peace deep within the soil of our hearts and steady our steps that we may again be known as ones who indeed travel the same road as the Prince of Peace.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Gather up all our prayers this day, O Lord, and we shall be grateful. Meanwhile, we shall be patient as you do your divine work in us and through 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.

 

Have a prayer request?

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

/by

Prayer for Today – July 14

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

July 14, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

We know you, Universal Love, as one who traverses the galaxies and skips among the stars. You rule the orbit of the planets coursing the golden glow of the sun. How could one such as you be mindful of us mere humans? Yet as the psalmist declares, you have made us a little lower than the angels. We bow in obeisance at such a holy mystery.

O Divine One, hear our prayer.

O God Who Never Turns Away, as we ponder our majestic earth you created, we realize how small the spaces which we inhabit – our confined communities, the routine commutes that define our days. Of course, we hear of life in other regions and even see unfolding tragedies regularly experienced by others. Forgive us, Merciful Lord, for living such insular lives, for not taking the plight of others to heart, for forgetting our brothers and sisters around the globe who are chained by fear, poverty, oppression. Purge us of this neglect, we pray, and also of these other private sins we now lay before you . . . Through your grace you have marked us as your very own, so give us that power from beyond that will enable us to live as the Christians we profess to be.

O Divine One, hear our prayer.

God Over All, as you have blessed us, so bountifully, we lift up your other children whose names we do not know, who live upon shores unfrequented by us. But they are your people and their wounds are our wounds: the people of Hong King who are denied free speech due to the recent passage of the Chinese Security Law; thousands of female health workers in Africa who risk their own lives to travel to remote villages to teach families how to protect themselves against Covid-19; the 40,000 persons in Somalia, Kenya & Ethiopia who are displaced because of drought, famine, and violence.

To these, we add our own prayers of thanksgiving and our pleas for help:

  • Grateful for prayers: nephew now virus-free & now reunited with family
  • Prayers appreciated: 23-yr old with covid is steadily improving
  • Thank you for prayers: elderly aunt on hospice died peacefully on Sunday
  • Thankful member is obtaining help in caregiving for very ill wife
  • Healing for a young son diagnosed with Covid-19
  • Prayers that virus tests for 4 recently exposed are negative
  • Prayers for a wife with a mass on brain, awaiting procedure
  • Healing mercies & calm for a member with recent eye damage
  • Strength & courage for member recovering from serious illness
  • Courage & confidence for member having job interview tomorrow
  • Loved ones isolated at home & assisted living facilities
  • Family members who were exposed to Covid-19 & are being tested
  • Healing of friend’s father who is beginning a new cancer treatment
  • Healing prayers for a frightened nephew (nurse in KY) with Covid-19 & protection for other family members who await test results
  • 2 close friends newly diagnosed with virus, for relief of symptoms

O Divine One, hear our prayer.

We turn over our prayers this day to your abiding presence in the redeeming 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.

Have a prayer request?

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

/by

Prayer for Today – July 13

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

July 13, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

O Weaver of Goodness, on even murky days, you lace bright strands of blue and yellow within the hours to show us all is not lost. You embroider translucence here and there in the most shadowed moments to tell us we are loved. You choose greens and golds to remind us that you are nurturing our resilience. Your needlework is unsurpassed! May we hold this day tenderly, realizing your exquisite artistry is ever at work, weaving assurance, hope, and joy into our lives.

God of Love, hear our prayer.

O Love that Encircles us, we have accepted your call to discipleship and we honor your invitation to pray. Help us to follow that quiet pattern of prayer set for us by Jesus himself. The Spirit will help us in our weakness, for we rarely know how to express what is going on in our hearts. We keep returning to the same old sins, even though we had every intention of doing better. We are deeply troubled by the pain in our nation and in our world. We feel impotent in helping loved ones who bear such great burdens. Listen now, Good Lord, as we once again turn our struggles over to you  . . . And attend also to these friends in our Church Street family who call out to you this day:

  • Grateful for prayers: young son’s heart surgery on Friday was successful
  • Happy couple celebrate the blessing of their 36th wedding anniversary
  • Thankful for all on the front lines alleviating pain of virus patients
  • Gratitude for a mother’s wonderful example, died Saturday, age 100
  • One offers thanks for a rare visit with an old friend
  • Healing for a young man diagnosed with Covid-19
  • Prayers that virus tests for those recently exposed are negative
  • Prayers for a wife with a mass on brain, facing more tests today
  • Healing mercies & calm for a member with recent eye damage
  • Upholding daughter whose mother was placed on hospice on Friday
  • Pastors leading a graveside service today, that the family will be comforted
  • Healing: Close friend with leukemia that is not responsive to treatment
  • Healing prayers for a frightened nephew (nurse in KY) with Covid-19 & protection for other family members who await test results
  • Four families mourning the recent deaths of loved ones
  • Physician nephew in 11th day of isolation; his wife & 3 sons all well

God of Love, hear our prayer.

We are aware, O Wise One, that you are not impressed by fancy words or well-turned phrases. Perchance you even shiver when we offer another flowery stanza of praise. Still you bear with us, knowing that we do try to please you. And in truth, our words are of little consequence, for it is our earnest attention you desire. Humble our hearts, we pray, that we might always come to you as we are, without flourish or pretense, as we offer that perfect prayer that Jesus taught:

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.

Join us for a midday devotion

Head to Facebook at noon today for a devotion with Rev. Tim Best!

/by

Prayer for Today – July 10

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

July 10, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

“Lord whose love through humble service bore the weight of human need,
Who upon the cross forsaken offered mercy’s perfect deed.”

We are truly humbled by your great love, O Lord! Its depth is beyond our imagining. What might love such as yours cost us, we ask, if we also cry out for things to change, for justice, for better lives for those who wither away in want and poverty? Give us courage, in spite of our fear, to take the risk of stepping out of our safe zone and speaking up for truth and equity.

“Still your children wander homeless, still the hungry cry for bread,
Still the captive long for freedom, still in grief we mourn our dead.”

We pray for all whose souls yearn for something better: for a place to call home, for the table filled with fresh food; for the imprisoned, especially those innocent ones whose lives are devoid of mercy; for those mourning dreams long dead and the good health that has eluded them; for loved ones whose days ended before a proper goodbye could be uttered. Give us hope enough to lift up the forlorn, time enough to sit with those who grieve, grace enough to share our bread.

“Called by worship to your service, forth in your dear name we go
To the child, the youth, the aged, love in living deed to show.”

Forgive us, Lord, when we neglect even the smallest gesture that might mean the world to another. Remind us to stop and make time for little ones, as did Jesus, who called the children blessed. Help us encourage our youth who struggle on so many fronts in our complex society, yet who accomplish so much, and who also long for a word of gratitude, of encouragement. We also seek your blessing upon each of these we now name, that your hand would be at work in their lives:

  • Celebration: daughter returns from China after a long work assignment
  • Thankful that a wife’s hysterectomy went smoothly today
  • Gratitude: hospital, health workers & first responders taking great risks to serve others
  • Grateful for prayers: a grandfather died peacefully last night
  • Easing of pain for member following extensive oral surgery
  • Successful heart surgery today for a young son (Blount Co Family Promise) at Vanderbilt; courage & safety for his family who travel with him
  • Prayers for a wife with a 2 cm mass on brain, awaiting more tests
  • Two members seeking relief from depression
  • Healing: Close friend with leukemia that is not responsive to treatment
  • Healing prayers for a frightened nephew (nurse in KY) with Covid-19 & protection for other family members who are currently being tested
  • Four families mourning the recent deaths of loved ones
  • Physician nephew in 9th day of isolation; his wife & 3 sons all well
  • Two families in custody proceedings, grace to uphold children involved

“Hope and health, good will and comfort, counsel, aid, and peace we give,
That your servants, Lord, in freedom, may your mercy know and live.”

Dearest Friend, fix our eyes upon the present moment, not upon the final outcome of our service. Piece by piece you will ultimately gather all our efforts and fold them into your own restoration. For now, we need only remember that when we love your created world with all its intricacies and mysteries, we are loving you. And when we are serving others, we are serving you.

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.

/by

Prayer for Today – July 9

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

July 9, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

O God of the Day, we come before you this morning in all our varied states. Some us come with peace, others with strife in their hearts. Some of us arrive with hope, others with desolation. Some of us carry a basket of dreams, others hold out empty hands. Still, whether buoyant or heavy-hearted, we enter, knowing that you will offer some nugget from your storehouse of wisdom to lead us through this day. And not only that, you will walk beside us every hour to come. Thanks be to God!

Most Holy Lord, hear our prayer.

O Guardian of the Weak, you rescued Israel from slavery and called her your own. By the frailty of your Son, you rescued humanity from slavery to sin and death. Throughout the eras you have continued to hear the cries of your people and have been faithful to rebuild  the ruins of our lives. We trust you now, O Steadfast One, to continue your work of renewal throughout our wounded world. Heal those places where slavery still exists; break the bonds of those who are held hostage to greed, discrimination, illness and poverty. Strengthen us to pry open the rusty locks of oppression, we pray, that we might then fling wide the gates of freedom for those who suffer everywhere. And as one unified people, we shall celebrate our God!

Most Holy Lord, hear our prayer.

And as we work in your name for a better world, we ask that you also remember these particular ones close to home, our Church Street friends who offer their petitions today:

  • One celebrates a negative Covid test & now emerges from isolation
  • Young woman healing following separation & impending divorce
  • One is grateful that his work has not suffered during the pandemic
  • Prayers appreciated, member is receiving relief from caregiving
  • Recovery of friend who had emergency heart stent
  • Physical and emotional healing within a family
  • Successful heart surgery for a young son (Blount County Family Promise) on Friday at Vanderbilt; courage & safety for his family who travel with him
  • An elderly father in failing health and a brother with post-surgery difficulty
  • 23-yr-old friend with Covid – isolating for 21 days – no family nearby
  • Protection from virus of all loved ones working in high risk positions
  • Two families in custody proceedings, grace to uphold children involved
  • Healing for a brother (no diagnosis yet) and a nephew with Covid-19
  • A peaceful end for a grandfather dying from covid19
  • For order & peace in our nation and for violence to end
  • A peaceful death for an aunt & for a cherished father-in-law

May our dream be as yours, Loving God: that one day peoples everywhere will be set free to live their lives creatively and vibrantly in your name.

Most Holy Lord, hear our prayer.

Faithful One, may our hearts be filled with gratitude these coming hours, as we absorb the soft rain of divine gifts you sprinkle throughout our days. From birdsong to quiet brook, from colored pebble to fragrant flower, from humming bee to gliding cloud, you bless us. We kneel in awe and humility, but also in confidence that nothing in all creation can separate us from your love through Christ Jesus our Lord, 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.

Join us for a midday devotion

Head to Facebook at noon today for a devotion with Rev. Catherine Clark Nance!

/by

Prayer for Today – July 8

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

July 8, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

You woo us, O God, Sleuth that you are. We would find it annoying if we did not know that you seek us because you care so deeply for us. Truly, the psalmist says that there is nowhere we might flee, but you are there already. Perchance underneath our façade, we want to be known as we really are, without our makeup. And the astonishing reality is that you seem to delight in us more earnestly when we remove our masks, share our doubts, our imperfections and failures freely. Such an impenetrable moving mystery you are. Ah, but such a friend!

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Summer rains refresh us, Lord, and we are grateful for them. But the clouded canopy overhead also carries unease. Our minds wander to times past when we were happier, when our closest companions were part of our everyday lives. Suddenly it seems that we have lost so many to death that few are left who understand us anymore. Gone are their impromptu calls just to see how we were faring, the small jokes we shared, their sensitivity to our own trials. We are on the edge of emptiness, and we often wonder why we ourselves are still here. Maybe our aloneness is to teach us how Jesus felt when his closest friends deserted him, just when he needed them most. Wash us with that summer rain, Lord, and give us courage to walk with assurance and resolve until our own time of departure comes.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

There have been rays of hope these past weeks, O Pillar of Strength, as we wait for the end of the pandemic. And we are thankful that some are able to return to work and enjoy more flexibility. The specter still haunts us, however, and we dare not let down our guard. Give us prudence, we pray, to shield our brothers and sisters who are most vulnerable to the virus, to adhere to guidelines set out by health officials, to demonstrate concern and compassion. You have seen us through other dark eras and you will see us through this time as well. We now remember these particular friends at Church Street who request our prayers of intercession. Attend to each, Good Lord, and walk with them as you work within each situation:

  • Grateful for the life and witness of a faithful member who died yesterday
  • Thanksgiving: cherished member’s latest cancer scans were all clear
  • Thankful for church staff and blessing of online worship & devotionals
  • Grateful for prayers: nephew and fiancé celebrate her recovery from cancer surgery, are awaiting treatment plans
  • Safety for 2 members hiking Mount Whitney in CA
  • Prayers for a brother having important kidney tests today
  • An elderly father in failing health and a brother with post-surgery difficulty
  • Good health for young couple; may their unborn baby grow to full term
  • 23-yr-old friend with Covid – isolating for 21 days – no family nearby
  • Protection from virus of all loved ones working in high-risk positions
  • Loved ones infected with Covid; safety for their family members
  • Two families in custody trials, grace to uphold children involved
  • Healing for a brother on high doses of antibiotics, no diagnosis yet
  • Healing prayers and courage for two undergoing chemotherapy
  • That peace descends upon our violent and fragmented nation
  • For God’s work in the lives of a weary caregiver and his ill wife
  • A peaceful death for an aunt (96) and for a cherished father-in-law
  • Prayers for a physician in Chattanooga, recovering from heart surgery
  • Healing mercies for a father with diabetes and his grieving son

In celebration and in suffering, may we continue to reach out to one another, as you, O Christ, reach out to hold us fast.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Abide in our hearts this day, we pray, for we need your nearness every hour:

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.

/by

Prayer for Today – July 7

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

July 7, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

Life-Giving God, how privileged we are that you have given us life and breath, for just to walk upon your good earth is holy. You call each of us daily to gather under your tent of gratitude. May we assemble there this day with all the saints of the ages who sing of your goodness, for in that glad house we learn the power of a thankful heart.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We confess that sometimes we allow voices around us to swallow us up. Sometimes the noise within our own heads overpowers us. Sometimes the brokenness of the world paralyzes us. But sometimes is not all the time, for there are interludes when your mercy descends as a whisper and holds us as a mother’s soft embrace. Hold us close, Dearest Friend, until our souls are once again in harmony with yours. And hold especially these ones in your grasp today, your people of Church Street, who long for your touch:

  • Grateful for prayers: brother with infection is now home from hospital
  • Thankful for prayers: daughter arrived safely in Boston and starting new job
  • Gratitude: member is steadily recovering after intensive testing
  • Family thankful for a mountain vacation
  • Good health for young couple; may their unborn baby grow to full term
  • 23-yr-old friend with Covid – isolating for 21 days – no family nearby
  • Protection from virus of all loved ones working in high-risk positions
  • Loved ones infected with Covid; safety for their family members
  • Healing for a brother on high doses of antibiotics, no diagnosis yet
  • Healing prayers & grace for a friend undergoing chemotherapy
  • That peace descends upon our violent & fragmented nation
  • Prayers for wife recovering from injuries & strength for her husband
  • Please pray for a mother with Covid-19 & that her son’s test is negative
  • A peaceful death for an aunt (96) and for a cherished father-in-law
  • Healing & courage for 2 members recovering from longterm illnesses
  • Healing within a broken family
  • Prayers for a brother having important kidney tests tomorrow

Bear with us, O God, when we offer you so many laments and grievances. But the truth is we fear deeply what we cannot control. Isaiah’s people also lived in a time of confusion and apprehension; their days were also turbulent and their future unforeseeable. Yet you promised them that the desert surrounding them would burst with new life and would blossom abundantly, that singing would again be heard in the land, that weak hands and feeble knees would once again be made strong. To fearful hearts the prophet proclaimed: “Be strong and do not fear! Here is your God . . .  He will come and save you!” Write those words upon our hearts, O Divine One, lest we forget who holds our present and our future.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Gather up these scattered pieces of prayer, O Lord, and place them close by; and each time you glance their way, your heart will be moved to remember 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.

Have a prayer request?

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

/by