Weekly Prayer – May 8, 2024

Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family

Week of May 8, 2024

Written by Steve Richardson

O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come: Open our minds and hearts to sensing your closeness as you hear our prayers. 

We’re thankful for the sphere of your creation we call Earth, for its resources and social communities. Yet it can be a hostile place. The unexpected lurks in every future. Even on this evening, we’re bracing against threats of severe, potentially damaging weather. Protect and shield us, God. Strengthen our faith, ignite our hope, and bolster our confidence that you will continue to guide and steady us through our adversities. 

As we turn to you as our source for hope, embolden us with wisdom and the spiritual gifts to be peacemakers wherever there is unrest; to be healers wherever there is disease and brokenness; to be mediators wherever there is separation and mistrust; to be givers wherever there is scarcity; to be caretakers wherever there is fragility; to be comforters wherever there is mourning; to be voices of calm wherever there is angst or anxiety; to be uniters wherever there is exclusion; to be instruments of your love wherever there is rejection, hurt, despair or loneliness. 

You’ve shown us your omnipotence in many ways, including the remarkable ascension of the risen Christ from Earth to the heavenly realm. We commemorate that glorious act of salvation tomorrow. And in doing so, we pray we remain mindful of your promise to abide with us now and every moment for eternity. Thank you, God, for this gift that’s too vast to fully comprehend. 

A few days later, we celebrate Mother’s Day. The day set for this is cultural, yet the significance is Biblical and sacred, as directed by you, holy Yahweh, in your 5th  commandment.  Thank you for the love, fostering and nurturement given us by our mothers, as well as lineages of the mothers before them in ages past. 

Thank you for Church Street United Methodist Church. Thank you for its clergy, staff, and volunteers in mission, teaching and leadership. Thank you for its transformational work in the Knoxville community and beyond. Thank you for granting each of us the opportunity to be a part of this church. 

Merciful God, also hear these needs and prayers of others in our church community. Surround each person with your loving embrace and comfort… 

We pray for …. 

• Two members who have each had a long-time pet die. Thankful for all of God’s creatures and for the companionship they provide!
• Friends who are beginning the journey of “some type of dementia.” Prayers of thanksgiving for doctors who study our brains, for researchers who have developed better testing, for social workers, for loving family members, and helpers all around!
• Friends and family members who are going through a troubling time.
• Adult children trying to make good decisions about next steps in work and school and life!
• Members who are hospitalized
• A dear friend who has had a biopsy to determine cancer diagnosis and best treatments
• For those who were affected by storms yesterday and today
• For college students and school personnel; that a reasonable outcome can be reached during the ‘protests.’
• Students who are anxious for the end of school.
• Our seniors who are leading us in worship this Sunday.

We offer prayers of thanksgiving for ….

• A clear report from the doctor!
• That I am feeling better after a long illness
• For those who volunteered at General Conference and for the good United Methodists in Charlotte who offered so much hospitality!

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.