Prayer for Today – April and 3

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

April 3, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

O Love Everlasting, your well indeed is deep and you never tire of offering your children living water. You hold out the cup of acceptance, not to the strong and self-possessed alone, but most assuredly to the weak, to the vulnerable, the disenfranchised, the poor, the hungry, and all of us fretful ones who live behind locked doors. You know that we fear the unknown, but these 40 days of introspection are meant to give us a true longing for you. Stretch out your hand, O Generous One, and we shall drink from that cup of living water until we never thirst again.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

Your grace comes to us as quietly as the dew — so silently that we often take it for granted. Forgive us, we pray when we fail to recognize your pulsing life in creation, in the laughter of a child, in those who care for us, in the stranger who gives us a kind greeting, the one who brings us our mail, the one who stocks the grocery shelf, the one who brings our meal to the curb. Praise be to you, O God, for those drops of goodness that enrich our days.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

And in that same goodness, receive these petitions from our church family:

  • Praises that a friend with COVID-19 is now well
  • Gratitude for all health professionals who set aside personal safety to help others – prayers for their strength & courage & peace
  • Gratitude for remote worship, devotionals, phone calls, notes, & everything keeping us connected as a congregation
  • Someone is thankful for a much-needed monetary gift
  • Prayers for a sister having delicate heart surgery tomorrow, for her anxious family
  • Safety & strength for a longtime friend who is alone, ill, & needy
  • Reassurance for a member, soon having tests for an unknown malady
  • Prayers for a young wife in D.C. who presents symptoms of COVID-19
  • A couple enduring difficulties request prayers
  • Prayers for a daughter to find relief from spine & leg pain
  • A family moving to a new home across town, that all might go smoothly

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

All these prayers we cast upon that Great Stream Renewal, your Beloved Son 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 – April 2

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

April 2, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

O God of the Ages, we who are shaken enter your presence today, for the messages of illness and pain have filled us with dread. We are afraid for ourselves and for others. We fear the threat of illness, the interruption of our lives, the breakdown of normalcy. To whom can we turn in time of turmoil? Where can we find comfort? It is your apostle who sends us ready reassurance: For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so we take heart, for we are more than conquerors through the One who loves us and will never let us go!

Thanks be to God!

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

And look with kindness on these fellow members of our church, we pray, who offer their expressions of gratitude and their pleas for help:

  • Gratitude: a niece’s cancer surgery yesterday was deemed a success
  • A member living alone is thankful for the “angel” who brings his meals
  • A widower is grateful for notes & Lenten devotions sent by the church
  • Gratitude for prayers—expectant daughter & family have found a way to leave NYC and return to Knoxville, are living in seclusion, a great relief
  • Gratitude for courageous health professionals who set aside personal safety to help others; continued protection & blessings upon them
  • Prayers for a sister at Cleveland Clinic, undergoing rare heart surgery on Friday; family members are not permitted to be with her
  • A executive furloughed from her high-level position in the hotel industry
  • Solace for 3 church families who grieve recent deaths of loved ones
  • Son-in-law & his two children in Middle TN – all positive with COVID-19

In all our bewilderment, remind us that you will give us strength to endure; and one day you will turn our weeping into joy, our mourning into dancing –- for you are indeed our Living Hope, our very present help in time of trouble.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

Watch over us now and in all our days to come, until we meet you face to face, joining with all your saints who bow before your throne above, saying:

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 – April 1

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

April 1, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

O Attentive Friend, we confess we are prone to set ourselves at the center of the universe. Perhaps it is our human nature that causes us to consider our own desires before the dreams of our neighbors. But the truth is that your love calls us to expand the narrow confines of our individual concerns. Your love whispers the truth: that we have received grace upon grace throughout our lives; and all that we have results from your goodness or the generosity of others. May your Spirit work within us, particularly during this time of universal struggle, to deepen our compassion, to pray for the unlovable, to offer gifts, even to the ungrateful, without counting the cost.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

O Divine Parent, there are many among us whose hearts are unsettled, who bear pain of body, mind and spirit. So breathe your healing breath, we pray, upon those who need it most. Especially touch those whose names we now whisper in the silence of these moments . . .

And also attend to these requests written upon the hearts of our church members:

  • Gratitude for a healthy baby born to a pre-school mother
  • Thanksgiving for a negative COVID-19 test result
  • Gratitude: all who work unselfishly to protect the lives of our citizens
  • Gratitude for the life of a remarkable Christian mother who died today
  • A quick recovery from flu for a beloved wife and mother
  • Prayers for a mother-to-be, that a safe April delivery comes to pass
  • Healing of a son-in-law diagnosed with COVID-19, safety for his family
  • A niece having surgery today, successful removal of cancerous tumors
  • A lonely widow as she searches for a new path
  • Church member sitting at the bedside of his dying mother and a peaceful & painless end for her

May each one know that he or she has not been forgotten and that your mercy and grace flow out in ways beyond our understanding.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

We boldly place all these, our earnest prayers, before you, for we follow the One who taught us to pray without ceasing:

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 – March 31

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

March 31, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

O God Most Holy, deep within us is the very real desire to be in your holy presence this day. Accept us as we are, O Lord, for with our gratitude for your benevolence, we also bring with us our frailties and our faults. But still we come, for you have asked us to be faithful in bearing one another’s burdens, and in dreaming one another’s dreams.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

O Shining Light of Our Salvation, you are the stronghold of our life; therefore what shall we fear? In truth, we remain uneasy about many things. May those who are ill or frightened somehow know your hand rests upon their brows. May those in sorrow remember your tears mingle with their own. May those who feel lonely open your door of welcome. May those who are impoverished receive a generous sharing of what we ourselves possess.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

And also bend your ear to receive these earnest prayers of our church body:

  • Gratitude: A brother & his fiancé in Michigan are virus free
  • Gratitude: All who are calling to check on fellow church members
  • Gratitude: A member’s grandchildren who came to wave & play in her yard – at a safe distance
  • Continued prayers for a nephew, internist in ALA clinic, that he can remain virus-free as he tests his adult & pediatric patients
  • Grieving family mourning a beloved mother/grandmother (drowning)
  • Family members in NYC & physician relatives working in NYC hospitals
  • A family asks for prayers as they await a mother’s death – hospice care
  • God’s protection for all who risk their own health by working in hospitals, medical laboratories, clinics, nursing homes, etc.
  • A sister with a rare heart condition, for successful surgery on Friday

As you are the Source of Life, we know you hear us and you will save us.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

Receive our ardent prayers this day, O Holy One, as your grace is our hope, your love is our joy, your will is our most sacred desire:

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 – March 30

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

March 30, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

O Generous One, we bow before you this day, expressing our gratitude for your unfailing care. You have sustained us till this hour and have poured your endless grace upon us. Even in these unsettling times, help us to open our eyes that we might behold and name the immeasurable gifts you have showered upon us . . .

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

Jesus, we know you as the Good Listener who never tires of your children’s voices; and no voice is too faint for you to detect. You have even invited us to cast our burdens upon you, for you care deeply for us. And so, in the silence of these moments, we offer our individual prayers of private pain and our haunting fears . . .

Listen also as we offer these appeals on behalf of our church family:

  • Gratitude for the beautiful life lived by a young member; prayers for her family & friends whose hearts are broken by her death
  • Gratitude for prayers & medical team who diagnosed a rare blood disorder
  • Thanksgiving: a father in assisted living who is strong & healthy
  • Safety for an ICU doctor in Scotland, intubating patients with COVID-19
  • A dear friend in Miami with painful gallbladder, fearful of visiting ER
  • For leaders in our nation’s capital to work together for our citizens
  • For adequate gowns, masks, ventilators & critical supplies to be found
  • Mother of a daughter-in-law who drowned on Friday in a boating accident; for her husband and family trying to cope

Remind us, Good Lord, that your love bridges any distance; and even in the most remote valley, our cries reach the ears of your heart.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

All these prayers we offer this day in the name of the One who is the author of our faith, our Faithful Friend, 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 LIVE Devotions each Monday and Thursday at NOON on Facebook!

Go to Facebook.com/CSUMCKnoxville at NOON for a greeting, scripture, a short message and prayer each Monday and Thursday. You’ll have a chance to interact, send prayer requests, and just connect for a few minutes a few times each week with your church family. See you there!
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Prayer for Today – March 29

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

March 29, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

We enter the Sabbath, O Holy One, remembering that you created this day to slow us down. In you holy wisdom, you knew that when we cease our mad pace, we are more likely to behold your work in the world, to listen for your voice, and to remember that you hold each of us in the palm of your hand. You alone have appointed the days and nights of our lives, so let us join our voices with the Psalmist who proclaimed: “This the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice & be glad in it!”

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

O Dear and Ultimate Good, your grace is not founded upon our worthiness; for if this were so, who could stand? But there is infinite mercy in you. You know the secrets of our hearts and you count every tear. Receive now these particular petitions, as shared by our church family:

  • Gratitude for our Soup Kitchen guests – so thankful, respectful & kind during these weeks of uncertainty
  • Thankful that more virus test kits are becoming available
  • Grateful for truckers who bring our food & supplies, for their safety
  • Gratitude for our church staff & laity who carry on the work of ministry & for their protection
  • A nephew & his family in NYC
  • Safety for son & wife, physicians caring for the sick in Lafayette General Hospital in Louisiana
  • A church family grieving deeply; for prayers to sustain them
  • A dear sister whose cancer has returned & her husband with dementia
  • Our nephew & fiancé in Michigan awaiting results of COVID-19 testing
  • Protection for healthcare workers, EMT’s & medical teams everywhere
  • Solace for a grieving family: Their beloved father died Sat. in Crossville

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

We know you accept all our prayers, for we join our spirits with that Greatest Spirit who prays for us in sighs too deep for words. And we offer again the prayer your Beloved imprinted upon our hearts 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.

 

Have a prayer request?

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

Join us on YouTube for Online Worship at 10 am Today!

Go to our YouTube page at 10 am (or later) each Sunday and enjoy greetings, scripture, homily, children’s moment, prayer, and beautiful music as we celebrate our loving God.

 

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Prayer for Today – March 28

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

March 28, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

O Mighty Fortress, you are the God whose mercy never fails. We sail toward an unknown shore and your word is our only chart. The winds of transition have unsteadied our course, and we confess that we are anxious. And yet, you are already aware of the storms that rage in our personal lives. You well know the tempest voices that tell us our situations are hopeless. But when we quiet our souls, we always hear your living words speaking in our hearts:

Come to me, you say, and I will give you the composure for which you search. Come to me, you say, and I will calm the waves.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

We lift up now these concerns of our church family. Keep these situations close to your heart, that each one may enter the gentle streams of your grace:

  • Gratitude for our church & the ways in which we are staying connected
  • Gratitude for a much-needed medical procedure to relieve hip pain
  • Celebrating a negative COVID-19 test
  • Thanksgiving for a son-in-law managing operations for the National Guard, who assist local governments in this time of crisis
  • Safety for a daughter, nurse practitioner, now conducting virus testing
  • Protection for a brother & his wife, medical workers in a D.C. hospital
  • A family devastated by the loss of a child, for healing mercies
  • Safety for a son & his fiancé, physicians working in Atlanta hospitals
  • A brother & fiancé awaiting results of COVID-19 testing
  • Safety for a physician nephew in ALA & for his family

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

O Mighty Fortress, receive our personal gratitudes . . .

And also our deepest regrets . . .

Wash us clean in the gentle stream of your grace.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

O Mighty Fortress, when our journey ends, we will find you are still with us, just as you promised. And on that other shore, we will humbly bow and offer again that prayer you taught us 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.

 

Have a prayer request?

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

 

Join us for Online Worship Tomorrow!

Go to our YouTube page at 10 am (or later) each Sunday and enjoy greetings, scripture, homily, children’s moment, prayer, and beautiful music as we celebrate our loving God.
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Prayer for Today – March 27

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

March 27, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

O Holy Vision, some of us walk bruised, burdened, and blinded through the ways of the world. We continue to question the unease, the uncertainty, the unknown. The apostle said that we see through a glass darkly, as through a clouded mirror; he said that ours is not to know all things in this realm. Rather, we are asked to live by faith and not by sight. And we do, though it is sometimes frightfully hard. So in these pressing times, we ask for a tender memory of your loving promise: that one day we shall all see clearly, and then face-to-face. Until that grand shadowless day to come, may we trust in your sure and certain providence.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

We lift up this day these joys & concerns on the hearts of our church family:

  • A beloved father who died yesterday, for his family who mourn
  • All chaplains working in hospitals and healthcare facilities
  • Members who suffer memory loss & for their families & caregivers
  • A cherished father (pastor) whose life is ebbing away
  • Healing of brokenness & misunderstanding within a family
  • Thanksgiving for the recent sunshine to warm our bodies and souls
  • A friend diagnosed with COVID-19, for complete healing
  • Gratitude for all taking great risks to safeguard the health of our citizens

Hear now our private confessions and concerns . . .

And also our praises for the joys you have brought about in our lives . . .

For your watchfulness, for your forgiveness, & for your steadfastness.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

Holy Spirit and Keeper, blow away from our minds the gloomy clouds of fear. Breathe into us all new life and new hope, for we know you as the Saving Sanctuary to whom our friend Jesus also prayed:

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 LIVE Devotions each Monday and Thursday at NOON on Facebook!

Go to Facebook.com/CSUMCKnoxville at NOON on Mondays and Thursdays for a greeting, scripture, a short message and prayer. You’ll have a chance to interact, send prayer requests, and just connect a few times each week with your church family. See you there! If you aren’t able to join us at noon on Facebook, don’t worry – we’ll still post the video on our webpage after it’s live, so that all may benefit from this devotional time.
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Prayer for Today – March 26

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

March 26, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

O Love Ever Present, now and again in our days apart from our community of faith, there are so many things that remind us of you in penetrating ways:

A cloudy shadow on an open field, blue mountains in the distance, a certain movement of the evening breeze, an anthem of hope from our choir that begins to stir in our hearts, the memory of little feet scrambling to the chancel steps for children’s time, the deep-down conviction that you will use this interlude of uneasiness for our good and for your glory.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

O Spiritual Physician, just as you renewed the life of your Beloved Son, cast your gaze among us who are pained in mind, body, or spirit. We long to dance, but our bones ache; we long for voices now gone from us; we carry troubles too deep for words; we worry that our faith is weak. Yet on this side of the cross, we know that nothing is impossible with you. So move your healing hand over us this day and touch us with your renewing grace. And in so doing, you will be reminding us that we are your people and you are our God.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. 

We now lift up this day to your mercy these situations most recently expressed by our church family:

  • Giving thanks that a brother’s COVID-19 test was negative
  • Peace for a family whose father died yesterday after a long illness
  • For a lonely mother (84) in confinement in an Alabama hospital, peace for family members who worry
  • Protection for a daughter & son-in-law, physicians on the front line
  • Gratitude for a young father’s improvement from flu
  • A child with COVID-19, safety for her family & the diagnostician
  • A stepfather dealing with stage-4 liver cancer
  • Gratitude for the work of our Stephen Ministers & Parish Health Team
  • Confined college students, concerned about coursework & graduation

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

Accept all these petitions and prayers this day, O Love Divine, for they come from the very depths of our being:

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 LIVE Devotions each Monday and Thursday at NOON on Facebook!

Go to Facebook.com/CSUMCKnoxville at NOON on Mondays and Thursdays for a greeting, scripture, a short message and prayer. You’ll have a chance to interact, send prayer requests, and just connect a few times each week with your church family. See you there! If you aren’t able to join us at noon on Facebook, don’t worry – we’ll still post the video on our webpage after it’s live, so that all may benefit from this devotional time.
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Prayer for Today – March 25

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

March 25, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

O One Who Tends our Souls, we confess that we often set our minds, not on divine things, but on human things. When we are frightened, we sometimes doubt your loving provision, and we grab far more than we need. We forget the tender plan that you have for us, and we shrink from living as your disciples. But then, you are aware of our present angst, so we are confident that you will forgive us our selfishness and will wash us clean. And in these days of unease, teach us how to set aside our own concerns and focus instead on the riveting troubles that may be entrapping our neighbors.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

We lift up this day these particular concerns of our friends in our church family who ask for our prayers:

  • Healing for a young mother beginning cancer treatments, for her family who stand by in love and support
  • Safety for all hospital staffs & healthcare workers serving the sick
  • Gratitude: an ill brother’s fever decreased yesterday, for full healing
  • Blessings upon a dear mother in assisted living, visitors not allowed
  • Easing of present burdens, that we might find a cure for COVID-19
  • Gratitude for availability of virtual church, making worship possible
  • Healing & peace for a daughter who battles trauma & insecurity
  • All military & supporting personnel assisting in the virus control effort

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

Meet each of these petitions, we pray, and also those worries we each carry, at that mysterious point where your grace somehow blossoms into blessing.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

O Faithful One, we know you have forgotten our past and promise that tomorrow is a new day. Therefore, we now place our hands in yours and offer the prayer your Son taught 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.

 

Have a prayer request?

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

Join us for LIVE Devotions each Monday and Thursday at NOON on Facebook!

Go to Facebook.com/CSUMCKnoxville at NOON on Mondays and Thursdays for a greeting, scripture, a short message and prayer. You’ll have a chance to interact, send prayer requests, and just connect a few times each week with your church family. See you there! If you aren’t able to join us at noon on Facebook, don’t worry – we’ll still post the video on our webpage after it’s live, so that all may benefit from this devotional time.

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