The Church of How

Daily Advent Devotions from Church Street UMC

Thursday, December 17, Evening

By Steve Richardson

The Church of How

Read John 1:14-18

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us … No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”

It was the early 1970s, and we were a contingent of Holston Conference youth spending a week in New York City to learn about global issues at the United Nations. On a chilly Sunday morning, we entered a large window-less warehouse-like room in an aging building in Greenwich Village. It was anything but a “church”. But that’s what our youth group leader, Rev. Bob Bostic, told us the place was – a church; a United Methodist Church, in fact.

The ordained minister’s name was Izzy (his last name has faded in my memory). The congregants, about 30 in number and diverse in appearance, sat in a large circle. A somewhat-familiar United Methodist order of worship was followed. The big exception was the sermon. For that, Izzy introduced a concept based on scripture, then the congregants all shared their own personal perspectives. The theme that Sunday was love of neighbors. Everyone had much to share, including their own experiences of the pragmatic importance of loving relationships and support for one another, despite the turbulent, challenging times facing our nation during those years. Their comments were nurturing, deep, insightful and articulate. They were rooted in personal struggle and obvious faith.

The profundity of that worship service has stayed with me ever since. In retrospect, among other things I learned that day, I realized that “church” is more than merely a physical space, more than a building. Church is not only a “where,” but it is also a “how”… how God brings us in closer relationship with one another and with God.

So, too, could be the manger in Bethlehem. Yes, it was a place, a “where”, but it too, was a “how”… how God, through Jesus, granted a remarkable way to forge an unprecedented human-to-human relationship with each of us.

Prayer

God, in our hearts we know you desire an on-going and regular relationship with each of us. You have shown us in many ways how you long for that. Guide and inspire us to sustain that relationship on our part through our prayers, gifts, service, mission and love among our neighbors in need all around us.

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The Still Small Voice

Daily Advent Devotions from Church Street UMC

Friday, December 11

By Dan Kelley

The Still Small Voice

Read 1 Kings 19:11-12

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

I was stationed in the Army at Third A.I.T. Brigade, Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in the late 60’s. The Third Brigade had 2500 to 3000 troops and we trained them in Advanced Infantry Tactics. We graduated about 250 every week. Some we sent to Army schools. Some we sent to other Army posts in the States, Europe, and Asia. Most we sent to Vietnam. Then another 250 would ship in fresh out of Basic Training to start their training.

It was a busy, active, anxious time. There was a fellow in our squad from a small town in Southern Indiana that got a hometown newspaper every week. It really was not a newspaper, more of a hometown newsletter but it arrived every week.

There was no masthead. It just started out at the top with “GREETINGS NEIGHBORS” and ended at the bottom of the last page with “AUNT RUTH”. The top right-hand corner had a number around 300 for all the people in the town and the surrounding area. The number went up with every birth in the town and went down with every death. Those events were thoroughly documented. All the marriages and divorces were duly noted.

The old Royal Standard typewriter that she wrote the paper on had two keys that were damaged, the D and the W. So if you saw an undecipherable letter, you knew it was a D or a W and figured the word out from that. The paper was two, three, or four pages, depending on how much news was available that week. It was printed on a mimeograph machine so the paper had a slight purple tinge to it.

The paper contained stories like the 12-year-old Linda Stillwell report. Her 6th grade class went on a field trip to the Children’s Museum in Indianapolis. They went to Max Shapiro’s Jewish Deli for lunch and had food they had never heard of before. She loved her shawarma meat sandwich but could not tell her mother how to make one.

Betty Crenshaw’s cow Elsie was having trouble calving. It was her first one and Betty had to stay up all night to help her through it. Mother and child are doing well.

Ida Marshall had to go to Idaho to help her mother after she got out of the hospital. “Will someone drop off a casserole or invite them to supper so that Hank and the kids do not starve?”

They listed all the sports scores and talked about players who did well, encouraging them that they would win next time. There were few ads except yard sales, church bazaars, and girls willing to babysit. 26 CSUMC + Advent Devotions

The “TO PRAY FOR” section listed the local folks in service: my friend at Ft. Jackson, Billy Hand who was stationed at MACV in Vietnam, and Beth French, who was a nurse stationed in Germany. And everybody else that was in the hospital or having a rough time.

It started with just the guys in our squad but soon guys in other squads wanted to read the paper. Then guys in other companies in our Brigade wanted to read it. Even our Colonel and top Sergeant wanted to read it. It got a bit frayed by the time it got passed around, just in time for a new one to arrive.

People started thinking they knew the people from his small town. They would ask him if Helen had had her baby yet, and what she and Brett were going to name her. They started asking for Jim Starnes’ address so they could send him a sympathy card on the death of his mother; would he still get to go to Indiana State on a tennis scholarship? They asked him if he had any pictures of the town or the people because there were none in the paper.

The paper became a lifeline for soldiers who had been torn from their lives and families, and were thrown together with strangers far from home. Their own letters from home were few and far between or non-existent. Their own hometown papers were sterile, professional, and more about business than people. The small town paper helped them center their lives, by caring for people amidst the chaos of activities among strangers.

Prayer

Dear Lord, as we enter this Advent season, help us remember that the coming of the Child in a small, quiet, out-of-the-way place is God’s gift to us. As a small town newsletter brought comfort and peace to soldiers amidst chaos, let us see the love of God for us in the small, quiet gift of His Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ amidst the chaos of Christmas of 2020.

This devotion was written by Dan Kelley in honor of Stephen Ministries. 

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Prayer for Today – November 24

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

November 24, 2020

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Life in this world has a way of wounding us, sometimes within an inch of our lives; and at many junctures we wound ourselves.  We need only sift through our memories to count the foolish mistakes we have made, the hurts we have suffered, the pain we have inflicted upon others. But in this season of turning, the dry and crackling leaves send us a clear message: what’s done is done, what has been before has passed; yet what has withered and fallen to the ground becomes the rich loam which fertilizes the new. The pieces of a broken vessel can be cemented and filled with healing oil to bless the wounds of another. Today let us celebrate the extraordinary power of our God who fashions something remarkable from a regrettable mistake, who creates a road within the wilderness, who brings new life to the one thought to be lifeless!

Caring Friend, we are here before you, again admitting that we often miss the mark; but we believe you know how complicated our lives have become during these months since the unpredictable virus crowned himself the king of predators, hammering down our personal defenses. Many careers have been stalled or shattered; unemployment lines grow longer and longer; more families are hungry; rent is overdue; patience is thin and tempers flare. And worst of all is the menacing disease itself that stealthily preys upon the elderly, the homeless, and the weak.

Because we know the Living Christ welcomes all prayers that come from our hearts, his arms are open to receive our burdens. Even though his eyes fill with tears when he beholds our suffering and hears our laments, he has been working on our behalf. We offer profound gratitude for the skill, wisdom, and determination given to all researchers dedicated to the production of a virus vaccine. We pray it will meet with approval, with expedient distribution to those most in need, and with effective results. And One Who Waits With Us, give us signs along the way that we shall make it through.

All these things we ask, and remembering your great mercy, we also offer the prayers from the hearts of your people at Church Street.  We feel your power at work within us and through us, even as we lift these prayers on behalf of our brothers and sisters:

  • Grateful for prayers: Cardiac test met with good results
  • One expresses joy that he has employment
  • Thankful that a family conflict is working itself out
  • Gratitude: 126 Thanksgiving baskets were prepared by church volunteers to help feed the hungry in our community
  • Healing prayers for a brother on ventilator in Chicago, effects of COVID & for his family members who are all infected
  • One asks for prayers for peace and protection for his mother and special friends
  • Prayers for a daughter’s health, sufficient food and happiness for family
  • Healing prayers: Parents and grandparents in ICU
  • A nephew in Nashville who is homeless
  • Comfort for all mourning virus death of a talented musician
  • Blending of two families as a wedding approaches
  • Healing prayers for husband recovering from heart surgery
  • Strength for one caring for former husband in ill health
  • Grace for dear friend in ICU with COVID pneumonia and peace for family
  • Continued prayer: That a friend’s treatments will sufficiently shrink his pancreatic tumor, preparing him for surgery
  • Member undergoing knee surgery today and for her surgeon
  • Beloved husband in hospice care, wife who is grieving

Thank you, Sacred One, for calling us to be your people. Continue to bind us together with all believers everywhere, until we are one resilient body, joining as one mighty voice to sing your song of hope, and praying together the words taught us by our Savior:

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

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Prayer for Today – November 5

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

November 5, 2020

 

Be strong, and let your heart take courage,

all you who wait for the Lord.   

-Psalm 31:24

Be still my soul:  the Lord is on your side.

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain, leave to your God to order and provide;

In every change, God faithful will remain.

Your hope, your confidence, let nothing shake.

-Katharina von Schlegel

New every morning is your love, great God of light,

and all day long you are working for good in the world.

-from An Order for Morning Praise and Prayer UM Hymnal

 

God of this new day, we lift our hearts to you. The morning light has broken through the darkness of the night once again, and fresh possibilities and new beginnings await us. As the harvest sunrise demands our attention, sending its penetrating rays into our homes, it is impossible not to take notice. The wonders of your creation surround us and, in the changing of the seasons, we are reminded of your faithfulness throughout all generations.

Gentle and merciful God, you know how quickly we move from amazement and wonder to being overwhelmed by the worries of the day. We grow discouraged too easily, finding ourselves either immobilized by fear, or frantically rushing around, mindlessly latching onto quick fixes and easy solutions. Forgive our blindness to your presence. Free us from ourselves, Loving God, that we may fully experience the joy of life lived in relationship with you.

You know all the things that we face each day, the trials and hurts that are a part of living and loving. And, yet, you call us to a place of peace and calm in the midst of the storm, trusting that you never leave us alone. You ask us to wait patiently, leaning on your everlasting arms, and trusting in your infinite wisdom to direct our steps, all the time knowing that such a request is contrary to what the world would have us believe. Waiting is so much a part of our lives and often distracts us from the hope that is ours in Jesus Christ. We wait for test results, election results, job offers, anticipated promotions or raises, impending deaths for those in Hospice care, justice too long denied – the list is never-ending. Even still, your word to us remains constant –

Be strong, let your heart take courage, and wait.

And so, with the assurance of your great compassion, we place before you all that keeps us from abundant living, trusting that you hear our cries, comfort us in our need, and renew our strength:

  • Thanksgiving for prayers: Wife at Mayo Clinic received good news yesterday
  • Thankful for safe move of fragile mother to a new healthcare facility
  • Grateful for prayers: Gum surgery went well
  • Couple celebrate a husband’s successful heart surgery
  • Cherished niece and husband celebrate birth of their 1st daughter yesterday
  • Faithful member needs prayer for a lenient court ruling on November 9
  • Relief for those suffering from economic setbacks due to virus
  • Healing for teenage daughter, peace for her loving parents
  • God’s healing for our divided nation, for calm following national election
  • Relief from postpartum depression and young mother’s anxiety
  • Please pray for church member in critical care, for her husband & family
  • Safety and peace for elderly mother in hospice care, peace for her family
  • Prayers for young grandson with autism, healing of his self-abuse
  • Continued prayers, nephew in Missouri, seriously ill with Covid-19
  • Stamina and protection for our healthcare workers in every locale
  • Healing and guidance for family – husband ailing with very serious illness
  • Strength for friend with metastatic cancer, wisdom for her physicians

Gracious God, may we be daily surprised by your creation, hourly startled by the depths of your love, and every moment amazed by your care. All these things we ask in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray:

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

Special thanks to Rev. Pat Clendenen for contributing to this week’s prayers.

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Prayer for Today – November 2

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BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

November 2, 2020

Great is thy faithfulness, O God…

Morning by morning new mercies we see.

O Holy One, with the sounds of the bells still faintly ringing in the distance, we find ourselves still longing to linger in yesterday’s celebration of All Saints Day. As we worshipped together, though physically separated, we found comfort and assurance, strength and hope. Your presence came to us in so many forms – the magnificent processional, the glorious sounds of the organ and singers, the read and spoken word. We could not help but feel that great cloud of witnesses standing with you and flooding our hearts and minds with love and peace.

Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;

As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.

O Faithful One, we are surrounded by so much uncertainty, and it is so easy for fear and anxiety to take hold, causing us to forget who we are and Whose we are. Help us to breathe deeply in your Spirit, opening our hearts to the many ways in which you reach out to us, and assuring us that, in those times when we stumble, you will carry us.

Comforting One, we lift to you this day the many concerns and needs within our church family, our community, our nation, and our world. Where we can be your hands and feet of comfort, assurance, and hope – whatever form that may take – gently nudge us and send us forth in the name of Christ.

  • Thankful that niece in Missouri is improving from virus
  • Gratitude: Pastor recovering from grave illness, home from hospital
  • Member grateful for prayers – she has landed the job she desired
  • Thanksgiving that a mother will be released from rehab today
  • Grateful for prayers: Members felt support as they buried a loved one
  • Two sons with major addictions, that they may pursue and find healing
  • Prayers for wife this week at Mayo Clinic for further diagnosis of brain malady; safety and comfort for her faithful family
  • Prayers for beloved grandson with autism, for healing of his most recent attempts to harm himself
  • Strength for friend with metastatic cancer, wisdom for her physicians
  • Granddaughter (18) with virus, protection for family, especially her father
  • Prayers that a court ruling on November 9 will be lenient
  • Healing of granddaughter (16) very ill with gastroparesis
  • Re-building of a business adversely affected by Covid-19 restrictions
  • Healing for best friend in North Carolina with virus; that her family is not infected
  • Continued prayers for young wife battling leukemia
  • Healing of dear friend – young man in critical care, battling Covid-19
  • Sustaining prayers for mother in hospice care
  • Nephew in Missouri on ventilator, in serious condition, with Covid-19

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow…

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

O Renewer of Life, send us forth into this new day with renewed hope and renewed spirits, reminding us that the great cloud of witnesses we celebrated yesterday are ringing bells for us on our life journey. May our thanksgiving for the lives they lived among us become thanksgiving, that we too may faithfully walk the path you set before.

In sure and certain hope of your constant presence and abiding love, we offer the prayer Christ taught 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.

Special thanks to Rev. Pat Clendenen for contributing to this week’s prayers.

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Prayer for Today – October 28

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

October 28, 2020

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Breath Upon Breath, we hear you breathing within another new morn: in the rising of the sun, in the ever-changing complexion of the sapphire sky, in the full whiteness of meandering clouds, in the drifting leaf from the maple, in the crisp call of the orioles as they wing their way southward. Oh, that we might capture these moments and relive them every day! But the seasons change, you tell us, and we must move on. Other gifts will come, you seem to say, as we work together for the kingdom.

O One Whose Ways Cannot Be Measured, you are truly our refuge and strength. Even when the earth is reeling in disease and conflict, even when the fires blaze and the tempests roar, even when sin’s shadow looms large, even when we feel utterly helpless, you are that Rock that does not yield. Our troubles seem to come in bundles, and at such a swift speed that we are often rattled, responding with anxiety rather than trust. Brace us with your word of confidence, we pray, that others might see your courage and strength within us. May this be so, Lord, not for our glory, but that all might come to know you as the One whose love quells any storm.

Lord Jesus, our own deepest needs and desires you have long known, and you are acquainted with those precious ones about whom we care so earnestly. In this morning’s silence, receive again those cherished names, for we trust that you will hear and you will heal . . . . . . ; and also receive into the arms of your mercy all those hurting ones whose names we may not know . . . . . . .; and each of these concerns and celebrations from within our Church Street family:

  • Thanksgiving: After 3 bouts with cancer, a friend is pronounced healed
  • Grateful for prayers: Pastor with kidney ailment is improving
  • Two offer thanks for improved health issues
  • Prayers for two members assist with sister-in-law’s funeral in FLA
  • Healing prayers for a pastor with kidney disease and his anxious wife
  • Help for young son suffering with major addiction problems
  • Lifting of depression for three members who suffer significantly
  • Calm for one facing cataract surgery today, skill and wisdom for surgeon
  • Healing for best friend in North Carolina with virus; that her family is not infected
  • Young friend, newly married diagnosed with leukemia, courage for family
  • Healing of dear friend – young man in critical care, battling Covid-19
  • Sustaining prayers for mother in hospice care, comfort for her family
  • Continued prayers for healing of beloved elderly mother
  • Healing of young son with virus and protection of his family
  • Nephew in Missouri on ventilator with Covid-19 and his wife infected
  • Granddaughter (18) with virus, protection for family, especially her father

In your truest self, Holy One, you remain among us: God above us, God beside us, God within us. And in each shadow and light, in each day and night, give us your sacred presence, your boldness, and your courage to work for peace and for the well-being of others. All these prayers we offer this day in the name of the Blessed 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.

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Prayer for Today – May 26

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BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

May 26, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

“Hail the Day that sees him rise!” Let the trumpets sound! Our Risen Lord deserves our songs of praise! So sing we during this interval when we celebrate our Ascended Savior. O God, we offer praise for your Beloved Son who now rules with you in Paradise. We pray his song might become a drumbeat keeping time in our thoughts, a wind of change sweeping through our spirits, a loving tune that would make its home in our souls. Refine us, that we might become worthy instruments of your intent.

Hear us, Good Lord.    

Ever-Loving One, we indeed have sorrows: our movements are restricted, our older loved ones are isolated and lonely, our work has changed or disappeared altogether, and we are unable to worship with friends. It is difficult to set aside these setbacks, but we pray you would wipe away all our thoughts colored with negativity this day. The wise man has told us that if in all our ways we acknowledge you, then you will direct our path. You have directed us thus far, O Holy One, so why should we question your presence when the road becomes furrowed?

Hear us, Good Lord.

In so many ways you have blessed us, O Cherished One, so listen as we acknowledge the gifts you have laid at our feet in recent days: . . .

How marvelous is your name in all the earth! Also receive, we pray, these personal thanksgivings and concerns that are on the hearts of our church family:

  • A thankful family celebrates the birth of a new baby
  • One is grateful for prayers: safe travel during bereavement and family visits
  • Thanksgiving for help received in solving a legal matter
  • One is grateful for a personal gift beyond compare
  • Continued prayers for a son recovering from surgery
  • Healing for a dear friend with cancer and a mother with leukemia
  • Strength for a widow and her daughters who help her move to a new home
  • Full recovery for a sister who suffered a stroke over the weekend
  • Strength, guidance, and grace for one who is caregiver for an ill friend
  • Protection from illness of a son and daughter-in-law in NC
  • Safety for a daughter moving across the country today

We know you will touch us with your tender mercy and will remain at our side. For that assurance, and for the ways you heal us, we are humbled.

Hear us, Good Lord.

With the turmoil across the globe and the uncertainty of our health and economy, we worry about the date and time of your return, O Christ. But you told us that such matters are not our concern. So help us to lay aside our questions and timetables, and place our lives in your hands, knowing the ascension was full of promise. We WILL see Jesus again, and on that day, our uncertainty will turn into joy. Until then, let us faithfully watch and wait, all the while offering the words our Savior taught 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. 

 

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Prayer for Today – May 4

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BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Daily Prayers of the Church Street family

May 4, 2020

Pastor Jan

 

As our Welcoming Christ opens his arms to us from our altar, we know your arms also remain outstretched to us, Faithful One – ready to receive us, to embrace us, and to offer your unfailing love and care, each of which is beyond our understanding. Your graces are not earned, but are provided, as it gives you sheer joy to offer them. No return gifts are expected – only hearts beating our thanks.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

O Author of Time and Healer of the Earth, we look to you this day and all days, for each brings its own hurts, blessings, and challenges. Help us to savor the earth robed in splendor and the hope hovering over us. Each surrounds us this season and tell us how blessed is your creation.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.    

In a culture which treasures activity and production, you offer a simpler path: the road that encourages us to simply BE. May we heed your call to slow down and rest, to welcome your peace that comes as softly as rose petals falling to earth. Soothe the worries of all who are in pain, we pray, those who have suffered loss, those who are confused. And especially cover with your mercy our church family, and these brothers and sisters who seek your guidance, peace and renewal:

  • Grateful that an uncle’s long sickness and pain are over; he died peacefully Saturday
  • Praises: a father in ICU is miraculously recovering following 3 surgeries
  • Gratitude: courageous mother has made a firm intervention on behalf of her teenage children
  • A mother hospitalized with renal issues improves daily, please continue prayers
  • Thankful for forbearance of our graduating high school & college seniors
  • A college professor is recovering from a mild stroke & making treatment plans
  • Healing prayers for a family with 3 adult children suffering emotional maladies; strength and wisdom for the parents
  • Healing for a young relative who has received a diagnosis of stage 3 breast cancer
  • Prayers for a son to enter a drug rehab program, for his parents who worry
  • All who return to work, for wisdom and for safety precautions to be observed
  • Touch the hearts of grieving friends who will bury their loved ones this week
  • Healing for wife and children who buried their husband and father April 30
  • Lonely residents of assisted living homes, solace in their isolation and confusion
  • A grieving husband trying to endure his pain during this time of isolation

Take all our prayers and gratitudes and mold them to fit the shape of your boundless mercy, we pray. And help us, O Welcoming One, to rise with confidence, searching for the face of Jesus in each one whom we encounter; for it is in his holy name we offer this prayer:

Our father who are 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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