Cowboy Bob

Daily Advent Devotions from Church Street UMC

Tuesday, December 20

By Dan Kelley

Cowboy Bob

Read: Genesis 45:7a

“God sent me before you to preserve you.”

My mom loved to tell the story about me when I was a small boy and my friend, Cowboy Bob. Mom had lost my older brother Timothy in childbirth about two years before I was born. She was afraid that she could not have any more children. So when I was born she was very happy and very, very protective.

My dad had built a large family room across the whole back of our house in St. Louis. It was a great place to play when the weather was too bad to go outside. And my favorite games to play were Cowboys: Cowboys and Indians, Cowboys and Bank Robbers, Cowboys and Rustlers, and Cowboy posse helping the Sheriff. 

I had jeans with a leather belt and a silver buckle. I had boots and a cowboy hat. I had a vest and a two-gun holster. I had a cardboard horse that I could ride. I watched all the cowboy shows on TV. I loved playing Cowboys.

What I did not love was taking a nap. (I apologize to naps for my rude behavior toward them when I was young. I have since learned what a wonderful thing they are.) I objected that the Indians, Bank Robbers, Rustlers, and other Bad Guys would sneak up on me while I was asleep. I was afraid that they would get me. No amount of discussion with my mom would convince me otherwise. It was an ongoing battle.

One day my mom gave me a bag and asked me to open it. Inside was a bedspread with a tall man on it. He had jeans with a brown belt and silver buckle. He had cowboy boots and a white hat. He had a red vest with a star on it. And he had a two gun holster. His name was Bob, Cowboy Bob. Mom said that he had been deputized to stand watch and would protect me when I took my nap. He looked dependable, so I agreed to this solution and never argued again.

We are living in uncertain times of turmoil and change. Wars and rumors of wars fill the news. It is difficult to sleep because the bad guys are up to no good and are threatening us. Cowboy Bob was an outward and visible sign of my mother’s love and protection for me. The birth of Jesus the Christ is an outward and visible sign of God’s love and protection for us.

Prayer

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.

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When Things Don’t Turn Out as Planned

Daily Advent Devotions from Church Street UMC

Monday, December 20

By Ann Reego

When Things Don’t Turn Out as Planned

Read Matthew 2:13-15a

“Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod.”

I am looking forward to Christmas so much this year! Jim and I haven’t seen our Tampa daughter, son-in-love and two grandchildren since Christmas of 2019. It’s a long story, but the root of all the evil is Covid. And to make it even better, my Knoxville daughter, son-in-love and the four girls will be in Tampa with us. It’s the first time all of us have been in the same house since June of 2018. I can’t wait. It will be truly the best most blessed time in two long years.  

Not being with my Tampa family has been hard and frustrating for all of us. Watching Emily and Evan grow up on Zoom has broken my heart. I confess, I have whined A LOT! So, picture Joseph when he had this dream with an angel telling him to take Mary and the baby and flee to Egypt. He had dealings with angels about this baby before, so I guess it wasn’t too hard to believe. I wonder how Mary felt, when Joseph told her about his dream and his plan? I’m sure she had plans to take Jesus back to Nazareth and show him off to her family. But again, she had listened to an angel once before, so off they went to avoid Herod’s wrath and the killing of all male children under two.  

Are you waiting for me to tie this all together? Well, here goes. Mary and Jospeh listened to the angels and saved their lives and the life of their child. And by doing so, they blessed us beyond words.  

Jim and I listened to the words of the CDC and Dr. Fauci and have been without seeing part of our family for two years. We are still alive and healthy, and grateful for science, and also for a church who protects and cares for us in all ways.  

Mary and Joseph must have looked forward to going home, but they spent 3 years in Egypt waiting for Herod to die. It’s only been 2 years for us, so I guess we are lucky!

Prayer

Glorious and Loving God, thank you for protecting us and telling us how to remain safe from harm. Thank you for the leaders of Church Street UMC who prioritize our health and safety.  Thank you for the birth of your Son, and in His name we pray. Amen.

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Weekly Prayer – December 8, 2021

Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family

Week of December 8, 2021

Rev. Jan Buxton Wade

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.

I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled,

and do not let them be afraid. 

(John 14:27)

We await your coming, O Promised One, for you arrive with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, extending your counsel and peace.  We, your wandering children, long for these qualities; yet today we especially seek your holy peace, O God of Calm.  Despite your gracious bounty and mercy, our hearts remain restless this time of year.  Those ancient threats of wars and rumors of war still color our era.  The destitute, who have long waited for reprieve, remain in want. Evil and anger walk our streets, ready to pounce upon innocents who dare to voice differing views. Our youth are too often estranged from family, church, and community, living in danger within the boundaries of their neighborhoods and schools.  We travel an uneasy road, O Lord; therefore, we still rely on the word of the prophet who shares the good news that, even today, every mountain and hill will be made low and the rough places will become a plain. 

O God of Promise, come to us with your peace.

In our yearning, we indeed realize many of our present troubles are of our own making. As we linger here for you, could it be that you are also waiting — waiting for us to set things right? Surely you long for us to repent of our selfish ways, and to earnestly become part of that transformation we so desire.  We confess that we have been reticent to become involved when our efforts could make a real difference.  There are persons we have refused to love, harmful habits we have not bothered to alter, and doorways we have neglected to open.  Courage lies at the heart of peace-keeping, so give us resolve and boldness through the power of your Spirit, we pray, to will and to work for the good of your kingdom. Forgive our reticence, Good Lord, and fortify our efforts that they may be those that prepare the way of the Lord!

O God of Promise, may we strive for your peace.

We remember, Abiding One, when Jesus offered his words of solace to his disciples, it was in a time of tremendous turmoil.  Though he knew his own death was imminent, he spoke of that lasting peace that he himself embodied. Help us to know that the charge before us is to work in our temporal realm; yet may we also take hold of that most sacred gift of a lifetime: that unflappable peace of Christ. Set us on that path this season, we pray.  

O God of Promise, we yearn for your abiding peace.

The storms of life have overwhelmed so many, O Lord, and raging winds have broken even the strongest among us.  May the words of Christ the Comforter resound in the spirits of those who are lonely, confused, ill, grieving, and dying:  “Peace be still!” Soothe the souls of those who are frightened in every corner, we pray, and bring your light of hope to each darkened corner.  And receive also these earnest prayers of petition and praise brought to you by your people at Church Street:   

  • Gratitude for prayers: Sister’s cancer scans negative
  • Thankful that a mother’s dangerous infection has cleared
  • Joy shared during the Advent Crafts Festival
  • Grateful for generosity – many gifts delivered to Beacon of Hope families
  • Thanksgiving: Ongoing mission work of the UMW
  • All who are contributing to the Stewardship Campaign
  • Gratitude: Meaningful Spiritual Life Advance Retreat for 70 youth
  • Thankful: A stroke victim is much improved
  • Prayers for safe delivery of first grandchild today
  • Prayers for church couple recovering from Covid
  • Young man suffering from PTSD, healing prayers please
  • Solace for members grieving recent death of a brother
  • God’s healing presence with members ill at home
  • Relieving anxiety of daughter, estranged from her ill mother
  • For doors of employment to open for a talented professional man
  • Patience and healing for mother following colon surgery
  • Beloved husband undergoing chemotherapy
  • Church families grieving during the holidays
  • Member enduring physical and emotional trials
  • Healing of a family’s broken relationship
  • Wisdom and strength for young mother enduring a painful separation 
  • Solace and strength for one – end of long-term relationship
  • God’s guidance and healing for a mother with cancer diagnosis 
  • Continued strength for four members in cancer treatment 
  • Four members struggling with harsh effects of Parkinson’s
  • Healing prayers for adult daughter suffering dire illness

How blessed we are by the Prince of Peace! In the midst of our flaws, our misunderstandings, and our distress, he offers us that unshakable promise that we are never alone.  His hand is outstretched, as it was for his disciples so long ago, and he shares that peace that will never let us go.  In the name of the One Who Was, Who Is, and Who Is To Come, we make our prayer:

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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Weekly Prayer – October 13, 2021

Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family

Week of October 13, 2021

Submitted by Rev. Palmer Cantler*

God of Sun and Moon, Star and Sky, your wonder is beyond our imagining. We thank you for the gift of this world we share, and for the common bonds that we share as your children.

Bless us God, as we seek to find a way toward the peace you invite us to share. Guide us God as we walk that delicate line between being faithful to our own relationship with you, and yet remain understanding of those whose path is vastly different from our own. Remind us often that being faithful does not require that we close ourselves off from the faith of others.  Open our hearts, minds and spirits to people of every faith and culture. May the Mystery of your ways be the bridge that draws all of your people together in prayer for peace in our time.

We pray for those who are in special need of your grace and healing today. For those who live in fear of violence; for refugees everywhere; for political prisoners and for those who imprison them; God, we ask for peace.   For those who are grieving, or hungry, or in despair; for the lonely, and all who are ill or suffering, for any who struggle with addiction, and for all who live with chronic illness.

We lift up to your holy light these prayers of both praise and need, knowing that you hear every prayer uttered with faith and trust:

  • Gratitude: A son has entered a rehab program
  • Praises for high score on advanced statistics exam
  • Family of three generations grateful for vacation
  • Thanksgiving for a financial gift — help for expenses
  • Member thankful knee is healing quickly following surgery
  • Gratitude that a son is doing well in a rehab setting
  • Thankful that medication is addressing anxiety
  • Pray for family grieving tragic death of daughter (24) in auto accident
  • Healing prayers for son addicted to meth
  • Treatment for unvaccinated brother in Texas
  • Comfort for couple grieving death of 6-month-old daughter
  • Mother in treatment for thyroid cancer; father with leukemia
  • Prayers for courage: One having cancer consult on Friday
  • Pray for beloved husband with ALS, declining & discouraged wife
  • Couple ask for prayers, tensions related to young son
  • Church family mourning death of husband/father on Tuesday
  • Safety for two families traveling in Europe for 2 weeks
  • Continued prayer for recovery: daughter with Covid
  • Healing for best friend: Aggressive cancer treatment
  • Recovery for cousin on ventilator
  • Discouraged member recovering from foot injury
  • God’s watch care for dear friend beginning chemo today; also facing bone marrow transplant on 10/19
  • Member asks for prayers to receive a work reassignment
  • Family grieving death of grandmother
  • All church friends who are bearing deep grief

God, we trust in your power to be present with the suffering. We trust in your Spirit’s power to bring comfort, faith and strength where it is needed. We pray, bring your radical, scandalous peace into our midst, and touch us all with your love, for we ask it in the name of the One who calls us ever forward, Jesus Christ our Lord, praying together:

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.

*Source: Life in Liturgy (lifeinliturgy.wordpress.com)

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Weekly Prayer – July 7

Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family

Week of July 4, 2021

Written by Rev. Jan Buxton Wade

We come to you this week, O God of Creation, full of praise and awe for the miracles that greet us each morning; the panoply of colors that peak in summer’s glory astound us with their shading and intensity. Even the dew on the delicate rose leaf and clover radiate your splendid grace. And at eventide, you blanket us with deepening layers of pink and gray, inviting us to enter your realm of solitude and peace.  Forgive us, we pray, when we overlook the treasures of hope and promise you spread out before us. Make keen our dull senses that we might bow in reverence each time we encounter your voice of encouragement, especially when it comes without words.

Unseen Companion, you prod us to move beyond the ordinary realm of thought and to center our lives around the mystery of your unfailing and eternal love.  In our heart of hearts, we do believe, and yet we confess our confidence falters when we consider the plight of our world. Hatred, both on foreign shores and here in our own land, has brought terrorism and savagery to new levels.  Economic, ethnic, and racial turmoil escalates. Send your healing to every fractured place, we pray, and plant that peace beyond understanding in the hearts of your people everywhere. As your church, teach us when to speak, when to challenge, and when to be silent.  We would be part of the reconciliation of our neighborhood and our world, though we most often choose the safer way. When our faith dims and our energy wanes, give us that daring courage of your first disciples. Remold us into unfailing witnesses who affirm and proclaim the worth and dignity of each living soul.

Your Son Jesus became one of us, that he might bear the burdens of this human life. And still today, in his consoling manner, he reminds us that there is no pain or suffering to be endured where he is not walking beside us.  There is much on our hearts as we lift up the victims in Miami housing disaster, those in the path of another tropical storm, others besieged by drought and wildfires, and all your children caught up in the relentless pandemic invading developing countries. Embrace all, O Christ, for you know each one by name.

Caring Listener, we know you hear every muffled prayer extended in your name, for you have been moving in the lives of your people at Church Street.  Receive these specific notes of thanksgiving that come from our hearts, and also be at work in the lives of those who call out to you as they face their individual challenges:

Thanksgivings:

  • Prayers have resulted in a miraculous healing
  • Thanksgiving for safe travel to family reunion
  • One thankful for sustaining grace – final round of chemo
  • Bereaved family has felt comfort of God’s presence
  • An adult son’s depression has lifted through prayers
  • Medical student thankful: critical exams completed
  • Member celebrates birth of new great grandchild
  • Medication & therapy helping a husband’s voice ailment
  • Young couple excitedly plan an August wedding
  • Caring members who visit the aging and infirm
  • One celebrates offers of assistance for a church endeavor
  • Patience is sustaining one during personal trials

Concerns:

  • Solace for those whose family members nearing death
  • Healing grace for a mother with bone cancer
  • Healing beloved mother with cancer and easing of her pain
  • Mending two broken relationships
  • Continued prayers for brother with cancer
  • Safety and guidance for all involved with M.A.D in the City youth mission
  • Mercy and comfort for loved ones near death
  • Courage & healing for member in radiation treatment
  • Three families splintered by addiction
  • Cherished husband in ICU, guidance for his wife
  • Healing mercies for member beginning cancer treatment this week
  • Parents both suffering major illnesses
  • Direction for troubled teenage nephew
  • Physical strength for wife and husband in physical therapy
  • A brother’s spiritual growth and wisdom
  • God’s presence with beloved sister in decline
  • Healing for an ill couple, professional performers
  • Guidance for wife and her husband with dementia
  • Proper diagnosis: Young niece experienced 2nd seizure
  • Son in ER with fainting episodes
  • Elderly mother who suffered a fall

Love Beyond Imagining, by your sacred gift of life and your creation renewal, which come new every morning, we are honored. May the work we offer in your name this week be worthy of our calling. And whatever efforts are unworthy, touch with your immense grace, that they may be transformed for the greater good. All our named prayers and all those held secure in our hearts we offer in the name of our Savior and Redeemer who asked us to pray in this way:

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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Weekly Prayer – June 9

Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family

Week of June 6, 2021

Written by Rev. Jan Buxton Wade

O Love Beyond Our Imagining, we pause these moments in midweek to remember and to praise you. As we reflect upon the mystery of our lives, we cannot apply reason to our existence – your transcendent grace presents the only answer.  Our bodies in themselves are miracles not to be taken for granted. The love we receive from others, the way your Spirit works within us, the beauty of creation, the events that have led us to you, are all outside the bounds of our understanding. These are veiled mysteries that speak of your love, so teach us to move beyond the realm of what makes sense and to remain open to that love that permeates our past, our present, and our future. Breathe in us, O Breath of Life, as we breathe in you.

God of Tender Mercies, we carry heavy personal griefs this day: for those treasured souls who have died, for relationships that are damaged, for our brothers and sisters who are despondent and lonely, for those whose bodies and minds are failing, for those who are unemployed or underemployed.  And underneath we also carry the collective grief of our world: the pain inflicted on persons of color, the indigenous children whose bodies are being unearthed in Canada, the murder and maiming caused by terrorist organizations, persecution of Christian, Jew, and Muslim at home and abroad, the unrest and instability within our own country. Lead us, we pray, to those rivers of healing, where your waters of mercy might soothe us and also cleanse our hearts of hatred, prejudice and retribution.

You have called us, Lord, to be a light in this city, but we confess that we have failed you in many ways. Forgive us for focusing on things that matter little and how we pass by opportunities that could make a world of difference in our community. Open us more fully into your mission, that your holy beam would shine through us, drawing all others into a closer communion with you.

As you have shown mercy to us throughout all our days, receive our thanksgivings; and also hear the cries of each one who offers personal prayers in your name:

Gratitudes:

  • Miraculous healing of friend from electric shock
  • Thankful for prayers: Hip pain is decreasing
  • Prayers appreciated: One’s anemia vastly improved
  • Opening of in-person Sunday School classes
  • Cherished sister now home from the hospital
  • One’s severe anemia is much improved
  • Heart ailment identified and is being treated
  • Celebration: Shoulder surgery deemed unnecessary
  • Physical therapy alleviating pain
  • Thanksgiving for a successful intestinal surgery
  • A business owner thankful for an important contract
  • Couple grateful for a long-awaited anniversary trip
  • New pastor celebrates his upcoming appointment
  • Family thankful a daughter is moving to Knoxville
  • Gratitude for a son’s visit lengthy visit

Concerns:

  • Healing within a family broken by addiction
  • Young married couple seeking a stronger relationship
  • Healing for husband with long-term Covid symptoms
  • Beloved mother in heart failure
  • Member suffering severe depression
  • Alleviation of a member’s anxiety
  • Healing for husband and wife recovering from surgeries
  • Member awaiting radiation treatment
  • Relief for those who grieve
  • Prayers for family whose mother died this week
  • Cherished husband who has moved to memory care unit
  • Husband who is failing, strength for his wife, caregiver
  • Strengthening of one dealing with long-term cancer

O God, Father of All Mercies, we kneel in awe when we recognize your movement within our lives. And may that recognition kindle in each of us renewed faith, renewed courage, and renewed resolve to live lives worthy of the love you gave us in Jesus. May we cling to your Son, that we may be among those who mount up with wings as eagles, who run and are not weary, who walk and do not faint:

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

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Evening Prayer – March 15

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

March 15, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Enduring One, you have invited us to this Lenten Journey because in your wisdom you knew our souls had listened too long to the world’s hollow voice. All praise to you that you have summoned us these weeks past to open our eyes to re-discover the wonders surrounding us, to reflect upon your true purpose for our lives, to teach us new songs of gratitude and humility. We have stumbled, but you hold out your scarred hand and share yourself with us again and again.  Continue that inner work, Lord, for we have miles yet to travel.

Here in the time of twilight, we make our sincere confessions: We worry about balancing our dinner menus, forgetting the millions who are steps away from starvation. We think we deserve the best of everything, forgetting that everything we have comes from the efforts of someone else. We draw chalk marks to delineate who is in and who is out, forgetting that you love all equally and all are welcome. We turn on our security systems and remain secure in our homes, forgetting our neighbors’ children must dodge bullets when they travel to and from school.

We repent of our shallowness, Lord, but give thanks that you have planted saints among us whose open and unselfish ways convict us of our self-absorption. Grant that we, as they, might learn to view the world through the lens of Jesus, the Son who tells us it is never too late for new beginning.

Never-Ending Mercy, you carry us through on the comforting melody of your forgiveness, that music that never ceases; and because of your movement through our lives, we bring our personal praises from our Church Street family, and also our prayers for your divine assistance:

  • Gratitude for prayers: Heart cath went smoothly
  • Thanksgiving for first in-person worship
  • Four grateful for second dose of vaccine
  • UMW celebrates major gift for missions
  • Family grateful for weekend visits from relatives whom they have not seen in more than a year
  • Family thankful for settling in new home
  • One grateful for tolerating cancer treatments
  • Comfort for family whose mother died on Sunday
  • Solace and comfort for mother, 90, having internal bleeding and guidance for caregiver brother
  • Prayers for diagnosis of youngster’s seizures
  • Healing: Young sister with ongoing cancer concerns
  • Comfort and support for friend divorcing
  • Prayers for one who is disillusioned by illness
  • Rest and recovery for one following throat surgery
  • Young adult having fourth round of chemo this week
  • Dear friend awaiting medical treatment
  • Prayers that new meds improve breathing issues
  • Safe delivery of first grandchild
  • Prayers for justice in a custody case

We lie down in peace, nestled under your cool sheets of mercy, secure in the knowledge that even as we sleep, you are erasing our sins, untying our burdens, soothing us, and making us whole. As darkness descends, may our parting vision be of Jesus resting his hand upon us, as we whisper the words he 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.

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Faith and Trust

Daily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC

Sunday, March 14, Morning

By Edwin C. Kelso, April 10, 1976

Faith and Trust

Read Mark 10:52

“And Jesus said to him, ‘Go your way; your faith has made you well;’ and immediately he received his sight and followed him on his way.”

This verse from Mark tells of the blind beggar, Bartimaeus, receiving his sight through one of Christ’s miracles. The miracle would not have taken place had not Bartimaeus had faith and trust in our Lord.

In more recent times, many supposedly terminally ill patients have been miraculously cured. Their doctors could offer no explanation. A heavenly Doctor had a hand in the cure. There is a great need to put ourselves in the hands of God and trust Him.

In A MAN CALLED PETER, Catherine Marshall says,

“You trust your bed, You trust your precautions against burglars,

You trust the police force … And the fire brigade …

And trust yourself to sleep …

Which is another way of saying

You trust yourself to God.

 

The believer trusts himself to God … believing that God will watch over him.

Will you relax spiritually today?

Will you leave with God – now – the troubles you have been

carrying around for so long?

Will you ask Him – now – to take them away from you?

and let you relax in simple trust … just like a child?

Will you?”

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we have seen that without trust there can be no free and wholehearted obedience. Now we must look at the other side: without obedience there can be no real trust. We ask Thee very simply – take care of us, release all our fears and worries that we may better serve Thee, In Christ’s name. Amen.

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Dedication of Ourselves

Daily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC

Sunday, February 28, Evening

By Jim Kennedy, March 7, 1979

Dedication of Ourselves

Read Matthew 20:25-28

Were we to be called on to list those ideals which have made this nation great among all nations, we might list its citizens’ devotion to liberty, freedom, independence, justice, mercy, honor, duty, prudence, reason, virtue, peace, wisdom, courage, and fortitude. One can almost imagine a plaza or park somewhere with monuments to these ideals. If a Christian were asked what monuments seemed to be missing, he might instantly mention monuments dedicated to faith, hope, charity, and love.

Upon deeper reflection he would also note that at least four other monuments were missing, for a Christian must concern himself with remembering what has gone on before and what has been done on his behalf, and must also concern himself with preparing and dedicating himself to do that which he is called upon to do. Finally, a Christian must remember that sacrifice which was made on his behalf, and must be willing to sacrifice himself every day by giving of his own most precious resources – his time, his energy, his devotion, his spirit, and lastly, his financial resources – to further what God would have him do.

The ideals of that we must remember, prepare, dedicate, and sacrifice are especially important at Lent for it is not a time of doing with less, but a time of beginning to do more for others. It is not merely a time of giving up and doing without daily pleasures, because it is a time of giving more of one’s most precious resources – one’s time and one’s soul!

Prayer

Father, help each of us remember what Christ did for our sake upon the cross, and help us prepare ourselves to dedicate our hearts, souls, minds, and bodies to do Thy will, for we realize that no sacrifice we make can equal yours. In Your Son’s name we pray. Amen.

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Evening Prayer – February 3

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

February 3, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

O Calm Beyond the Sunset, you have designed this shimmering day and extended it to us freely through your grace. And now the evening wind picks up and breathtaking shadows lengthen across the fields; this is another of your invitations as we stand on the edge of your pool of darkness. “Come, enter the restorative flow,” you say, “the temperature is refreshing and all your daytime distractions are hidden away.”

We do long to lay down our troubles on the banks of healing shade and step inside. Give us such courage. While others may follow the world’s path and continue their work through the darkest hours, grant that we might linger awhile with the Holy One who beckons, giving rest to the weary and fulness to the depleted. . . . . . . . . . .

Sea of Mercy, look down this eve on those living in the land of broken dreams, your beloved who desperately yearn for solace: the hungry, the refugee, the prisoner, the lonely, those far from home and those whose homes have been turned upside down by illness, the loss of a loved one, by personal conflict. Break into their lives with waves of your healing assurance, reminding them they are not forgotten. Grant that they, and each of us who pray this night, may hear the rippling calm of your voice which gives us courage to wait in times of sorrow.

Already, we feel you working on our behalf and extend our deepest gratitude.  And also lay before you these deepest concerns on the hearts of your Church Street community:

  • Ill member thankful to be released from hospital
  • Cancer survivor thankful for prayers, all going well
  • Praises for wife whose radiation treatments are complete
  • Member thankful for meds that are helping her pain
  • Two express gratitude for Bible Study offerings on Zoom
  • Gratitude: Young couple with Covid greatly improved
  • Fourteen express thanks for virus vaccinations
  • Healing prayers for cousin suffering from stroke
  • Comfort for family: Husband killed in auto accident last week
  • Healing for one whose cancer has spread
  • For chemo funds to be approved
  • Mother in treatment for pancreatic cancer
  • One enduring chemo treatments
  • Courage for alcoholic son to enter rehab
  • Proper diagnosis and treatment of painful leg condition
  • Pain relief for cancer victim
  • Healing: Husband recovering from heart surgery

We are neither righteous nor devout, nor even worthy; still you have drawn close to us and wrapped us in your amazing love. You hear our cries and you touch us with your mercy, especially in these ways: . . . . . . . . . . As we close our eyes and enter that chamber of rest tonight, fill our hearts with thanksgiving to the One who offers us life eternal:

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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