Daily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Sunday, March 26, 2023 — Evening
By Dona Bunch
The Miracle of Waiting
Read: James 5:7-8 RSV
“Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it until it receives the early and the late rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”
I may be the world’s most impatient person. I drive everyone in my family crazy with my inability to wait. I am the person who, when a group of people is getting into a car, grabs the handle and starts pulling before the driver even gets their keys out. “It’s not unlocked yet,” my sister says, with a look that reminds me she’s said it dozens of times.
At my brother’s house, when he puts a coffee pod in the Keurig, I immediately start pushing the “medium cup” button repeatedly. “Stop it! You have to wait for it to heat up!” my brother literally yells.
As Lent approaches, all the talk of waiting makes me anxious. Waiting as a spiritual discipline seems nearly impossible to me. But it is precisely the ability to wait that opens our hearts and minds to the miracle of Easter.
Scientists say that when our minds are at rest, maybe taking a shower or going for a walk, our brains can make connections that they can’t make when they are perpetually working. We’ve all had the “ah ha” moment when an answer comes to us when we aren’t thinking. In other words, when we are waiting, not doing.
To me, that’s the message of Lent. Waiting with stillness allows us space to breathe. Relaxing our brains gives our hearts and minds the ability to listen and reflect, to calm. Within that silence, we prepare to experience the miracles before us. As we wait, God comes to us.
This Lent, I will try to give up impatience and wait for things to come. I’ll try to embrace silence and stillness and learn to wait. It won’t be easy (I’ll probably pull at the car door on Easter morning), but I’ll begin. And maybe I will be able to welcome the miracle of Easter more than ever before.
Prayer
Lord, grant us the ability to wait, to calm our minds and hearts and know the peace of stillness. Help us to rest in silence so we can experience the awe of your resurrection. Amen.
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All are welcome at Church Street! We believe every person is of sacred worth and created in God’s image. We welcome and celebrate the gifts God has given to all persons without regard to race, color, national origin, ethnicity, age, gender, disability, status, economic condition, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religious affiliation. We respect diversity of opinion and expressions of Christian faith. We believe God loves everyone unconditionally! As God loves us, so let us love and serve in the name of Christ.
What’s in a Name?
Featured, lentDaily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Palm Sunday, April 2, 2023 – Morning
By Rev. Palmer Cantler, Associate Pastor
What’s in a Name?
Read: John 12:13
“So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord — the King of Israel!’”
The etymology of my name pairs well with the occasion of Palm Sunday. The earliest mention of Palmer is as a surname in the 12th century. Palmers were pilgrims who had returned from the Holy Land. These pilgrims were referred to as palmers, because they carried a palm branch or frond as a symbol of the journey they had just taken.
As Christians who know the full story of Holy Week, we know that Jesus brings the peace hoped for on Palm Sunday. We know the events that are to follow this triumphant entry into Jerusalem. We declare that Christ is king and his reign does bring peace. Yet, it is not the peace you might expect when you see the crowd waving palm branches. Jesus delivers peace, but not through military action and overthrowing the Roman army. The price of peace was not paid on the battlefield with soldiers, weapons and armies. The price of peace was paid by God’s only, begotten son taking on the sins of the world and dying on a cross. Jesus pays the ultimate price of peace to fulfill his Kingship.
The joyful, triumphant entry of the disciples and crowd is not the end of the story. This processional does not immediately jump to the tomb where we celebrate the joy of Easter morning. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem leads first through the events of Holy Week. Our journey as palmers, as religious pilgrims bearing palm branches, follows through each of these events as we wrestle to be disciples.
Prayer
God of Peace, as we seek to be palmers, may the palms we wave be outward signs of the discipleship journeys we walk. Strengthen us throughout Holy Week to walk through each of these last days in your son’s life, so that we may more fully understand the sacrifice he made for us. Amen.
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Don’t Get in a Hurry
Featured, lentDaily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Saturday, April 1, 2023 – Evening
By John Eldridge
Don’t Get in a Hurry
Read: Matthew 26:17-28:10
The season of Lent anticipates and causes us to look forward to Easter. Ah … EASTER! Flowers everywhere. Huge Church attendance. People dressed in their Sunday best and smiles on everyone’s faces.
But we cannot get to Easter before experiencing the events of Holy Week. Indeed, there would be no Resurrection, without Jesus suffering unto death beforehand. The Last Supper, praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Being arrested. Being whipped. Carrying the Cross to Golgatha. Nails being driven into his hands and feet. Jesus’ last words of comfort, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” and finally, relief, “It is finished”. All this and so much more occur in Holy Week – before Easter!
We are called to experience the pain and suffering of Jesus during Holy Week, in order to be able to celebrate the Resurrection.
The name of those days before Easter, “Holy Week,” speaks volumes. Because the week is so meaningful, it is called “Holy,” a week set apart as the most special of the Christian calendar.
Prayer
Gracious God, enable us to experience all of Easter, including the most meaningful events of Holy Week, before we experience the joy of the Resurrection. Amen.
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Keeping Watch
Featured, lentDaily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Saturday, April 1, 2023 – Morning
By Jenny Cross, Director of Youth Ministry
Keeping Watch
Read: Micah 7:7
Several years ago, I traveled through the Bible with a chronological yearly reading plan. Our Bibles are printed canonically – essentially meaning the books of scripture are grouped together by themes. So, when you read a chronological plan, you move back and forth between different books. The first part of Genesis then jumps to Job, stories of David in 2 Samuel coordinate with stories in Chronicles and the Psalms, and so on. I expected to learn about the overall timeline of scripture, approaching this as an educational experience. But I was surprised and deeply moved by the way this trip through scripture drastically changed my perspective on God’s love, mercy, and grace.
Over and over in the Old Testament, we see God’s prophets (His messengers) given the task of sharing news with His people (the Israelites). But more often than not, these prophets experience rejection and frustration. Their words are not received or are intentionally rebelled against. How exhausting their jobs must have been! But nearly all the time, they remain steadfast. (Jonah is another story for another time.) And while this is the pattern of the prophets time and time again, I am always a little surprised when they respond to hardship with trust and praise.
The prophet Micah’s message is one of accusation and warning, but paired with hope and restoration. He reminds Israel of their faithlessness and calls them back to God. In the final chapter of the book, he opens with a poem of lament. One translation titles it “Israel’s Misery.” But in the final statement of that poem, something changes. It says, “But me! I will keep watch for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.” And the book closes with more poems about Israel’s restoration and God’s compassion.
Lent is often a time when I’m keenly aware of suffering and misery. This year, especially as we approach Holy Week, I want to adopt the posture of Micah. When I am frustrated by the crowd yelling “Crucify;” when the struggles of daily life leave me tired, and weak and worn; when I, like the disciples, wrestle with doubt and disbelief, I want to say, “But me! I will keep watch for the Lord.”
Prayer
Lord, You are steadfast when we are not. Your love remains when we fail. You offer grace and mercy that we could never earn or deserve. Help us turn our hearts toward you. Remind us to keep watch for your steady presence. We will wait for you. And we know you hear our prayers. Amen.
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Weekly Prayer – March 29, 2023
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of March 29, 2023
Rev. Tim Best
This prayer was originally offered on Sunday, March 26 by Rev. Tim Best after we read scripture from Ezekiel 37:1-14 … the valley of dry bones. Rev. Best has added to this prayer since Monday morning, following the deaths in Nashville. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Almighty God, King of the Universe
We give you thanks for your mission and ministry in our midst. We praise you for your grace that seeks us out and works within us and within our communities. You do notice when our bones feel dried out, our lives feel parched, and the forces of the world crush and overwhelm us. In the midst of tragedy and violence, we feel crushed and overwhelmed. Jesus came amongst us to make your love known by healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, and freeing us all from the powers of sin and death. Thank you for transforming us by your great mercy and inviting us into your kingdom now and in the age to come.
We are invited into your kingdom, we are invited to share in a living vision of dry bones being given new life. Breathe new life into us, that as our hearts are wrenched open by the senselessness of violence we might participate in your mission of new life and new creation. Though the world tempts us to wring our hands and accept that some things just “are”, we trust in the promise that in Jesus all things truly are possible. Let us live out your mission of peace boldly in our world, in our community, and in our relationships with one another.
We do pray for those who are sick, those who suffer in body or mind, and those who are hungry. We pray for those who mourn, those filled with anger, for those filled with fear. We pray for friends who await for test results. We pray for families anxious about having enough. We pray for those who are lonely and long friendship and love. O God, our hearts ache for the communities in Mississippi which have been reduced to rubble. We know that your love, your Spirit, can breathe comfort and hope into the people of Rolling Fork and other towns.
Many of us joined together in service this past weekend. We packed boxes, put cleaning kits together, and offered ourselves in other ways as part of our “mission weekend.” It is good for us to gather together to serve and to work towards goals to help in our community and our world. But, we pray that you would shape our hearts so that when we hear the word “mission” we would think of the word “love.” Let our works be always done in love and with the purpose of making your love known. In your Spirit all things we do and all we say can participate in your mission of love in our world. Ezekiel had a vision of you giving new life in the face of death. Help us to share in that vision with our words and our deeds.
Just as Jesus acted for the good of the people he encountered, guide us to pray and work together to act for the good of our neighbors. Often our actions do not alleviate the suffering of our neighbors, and more than we care to admit likely contribute to it.
Give us a vision of your kingdom, that we may live boldly as those who believe that the world will be set right, and that even the places of dry bones will know new life in Christ Jesus.
We pray for …
We give thanks for …
We continue to pray for …
May we be shaped by his mission to us that we may live out that prayer that he taught us, as we pray it together, 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 prayer request confidentially by clicking here.
The Miracle of Waiting
Featured, lentDaily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Sunday, March 26, 2023 — Evening
By Dona Bunch
The Miracle of Waiting
Read: James 5:7-8 RSV
“Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it until it receives the early and the late rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”
I may be the world’s most impatient person. I drive everyone in my family crazy with my inability to wait. I am the person who, when a group of people is getting into a car, grabs the handle and starts pulling before the driver even gets their keys out. “It’s not unlocked yet,” my sister says, with a look that reminds me she’s said it dozens of times.
At my brother’s house, when he puts a coffee pod in the Keurig, I immediately start pushing the “medium cup” button repeatedly. “Stop it! You have to wait for it to heat up!” my brother literally yells.
As Lent approaches, all the talk of waiting makes me anxious. Waiting as a spiritual discipline seems nearly impossible to me. But it is precisely the ability to wait that opens our hearts and minds to the miracle of Easter.
Scientists say that when our minds are at rest, maybe taking a shower or going for a walk, our brains can make connections that they can’t make when they are perpetually working. We’ve all had the “ah ha” moment when an answer comes to us when we aren’t thinking. In other words, when we are waiting, not doing.
To me, that’s the message of Lent. Waiting with stillness allows us space to breathe. Relaxing our brains gives our hearts and minds the ability to listen and reflect, to calm. Within that silence, we prepare to experience the miracles before us. As we wait, God comes to us.
This Lent, I will try to give up impatience and wait for things to come. I’ll try to embrace silence and stillness and learn to wait. It won’t be easy (I’ll probably pull at the car door on Easter morning), but I’ll begin. And maybe I will be able to welcome the miracle of Easter more than ever before.
Prayer
Lord, grant us the ability to wait, to calm our minds and hearts and know the peace of stillness. Help us to rest in silence so we can experience the awe of your resurrection. Amen.
Have a Prayer Request?
Submit your prayer request confidentially by clicking here.
Opening My Ears
Featured, lentDaily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Sunday, March 26, 2023 — Morning
By Laine Thomas
Opening My Ears
Read: Hosea 12:6 NIV
“But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always.”
Read: Micah 7:7 NIV
“But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.”
Prayer is a challenging daily practice in my life. I turn to it when I need something but I don’t often just listen in prayer for what God has to say to me. Instead, I try to determine my own path and pray just to make sure He’s on board with the direction I’ve already planned on heading.
These forty days are a chance to refocus away from the world and grow spiritually. It’s a time to make our hearts and minds ready for God. Sacrificing something we enjoy becomes an opportunity to fill that missing piece with Him. Because talking it out in prayer is how I try to manage things, instead I’m giving my words to God. I’m spending this Lenten season in prayer. I’m planning to give my time to the Lord. I’m not looking for answers to my prayers. Instead, I want to remind myself that I’m not meant to conquer this world alone. I’m using this Lent to listen to Him and let His words and intention guide me. My house will be quieter this season, but my ears and heart will be open for all He has to tell me.
Sacrifice and spiritual growth can come in many forms and this Lenten season, I hope we all find our way closer to God and are reminded of our need for him minute by minute in our lives. It’s never easy to change our habits, to reset, and we are blessed for this reminder to work on it every year knowing that our God will hear us.
Prayer
Lord, I pray for every person sacrificing comforts, serving you, and giving a bit of themselves this season in order to refocus our faith and grow closer to You. Hear their hearts and minds this season and let them hear you in return. Thank You for the promise you give us that our sins are forgiven and there is life after death. It sustains us on the hardest days. Guide us in Your will always. In Jesus’s name we pray, Amen.
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Weekly Prayer – March 22, 2023
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of March 22, 2023
Rev. Catherine Nance
God who made the rain and sunshine, we give you thanks for both! We have mumbled a bit about cold air in March because it does not align with our understanding of Spring! You are the creator of seasons. We are the creators of calendars! You are the author of time. We are the makers of demarcations.
Spring takes its time as it sheds winter’s gray and cold. We do not change overnight – you know that! Why do we expect a full-blown spring on the day after the equinox? Forgive us, O God, when we do not marvel at your creation and the majesty of planets and orbits and the phases of the moon. Forgive us, O God, when we do not offer thanks for umbrellas, windshield wipers, raincoats, dry socks, and heaters. “Thank you, God, for umbrellas,” sounds like a children’s prayer to us. May we be like children, Father God. May we take delight, Mother God, in the gifts of each day.
So, as we come to the close of this day, before we check the weather for tomorrow, we thank you for the gift of right now. A time to pause and give thanks, to marvel at the small but cheerful glimmers of hope, love, and grace we have experienced: Homemade cookies, an unexpected but encouraging text message, seeing a co-worker from years past, laughing along with the radio host this morning, speaking with a child who wanted to share, looking forward to hot tea before bed.
O God who made the moon and ordered the seasons so that they do not startle us but remind us that we, too, weave and grace and saunter and stall our way through our own seasons! Bless all of our days … whether the weather is pleasing to us or not! May our response to you and our delight in your love for us be pleasing to you!
As we give thanks to you, we also remember our loved ones who have asked for prayers. We think of strangers we met today who seemed to want connection. We offer prayers for them and trust your Holy Spirit to connect. We want to rest well tonight so we will set aside the things that are worrying us and the things we do not have control over. Thank you for creating us in a way that we can care about things … and, also, set things aside. What a gracious God you are!
We offer prayers alongside our church family…
We pray for…
We give thanks for…
We offer prayers of thanksgiving for…
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?
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Reminders
Featured, prayer for todayDaily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Sunday, March 19, 2023 — Evening
By Sophia Thompson
Reminders
Read: Hebrews 2:18
“Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.”
During Lent, we are asked to reflect on Jesus’ suffering. Our resolutions are intended to point us to our need for a savior and how Jesus shared in our temptations and suffering. Often, our world can feel overwhelming. There is hardship and loss that is difficult to comprehend. We often struggle to reconcile our suffering with the belief in a good Lord, who is full of mercy and love for his people. Although we ultimately believe in a good plan, we are unsure of where feelings of grief work into this.
However, during Lent we are offered a space to reflect on the suffering of Jesus, to be reminded that there is space for our suffering as Jesus stands beside us. We remember that there is perfect understanding in Jesus as he endured suffering and temptation for our sake. Most of all we are reminded that this ends in hope and glory. At the end of Lent we are met with the news of Easter. We are reminded that even though the darkness in our world cannot be denied, there is a light and a hope that have already overcome it.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for this time of reflection. We pray that as we walk through this season of lent we will be reminded that you are a kind companion that stands with us through all. Most of all, we pray that we will be reminded of the hope and glory that are to come. Amen.
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Come Unto Him All Ye Who Labor
Featured, prayer for todayDaily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Sunday, March 19, 2023 — Morning
By Bill Terry
Come Unto Him All Ye Who Labor
Read: Matthew 11:28-30
I tend to judge music by one highly-scientific criterion: does it give me chill bumps? Right at the top of my list is the duo near the end of Part 1 of Handel’s Messiah. “Come unto him all ye that labor, and he will give you rest.” I recommend finding a recording on YouTube or your favorite music streaming service. Sit comfortably in a quiet room and allow the music to pour over you. The melody is very calming and the verses reassuring, both of which are greatly needed in our world.
Prayer
Dear Lord, we thank you for the message of tranquility that this music provides. May it guide us through our busy lives with great comfort.
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Weekly Prayer – March 15, 2023
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of March 15, 2023
Steve Richardson, Lay Leader
God in heaven and in our midst, thank you for these moments to turn our thoughts to you and pray.
In just a few days, our season crosses the threshold from winter to spring. Like so many events in your realm, God, the change will happen quietly, without fanfare or sudden surges. In the silence of space, our peculiarly-tilted planet will proceed along its path around the sun. Daylight hours will continue to lengthen. And your diverse creation around us will re-awaken to newness of another cycle of life. Inspire and help us to be entrusted caretakers of your bountiful earth, seas and sky.
For many children, youth and their families in our community, this has been a week of “spring break.” We pray that their opportunities of added time together with loved ones, other family members and friends will be meaningful, uplifting and spiritually enriching. We pray, too, for their safety as well as physical and mental wellbeing.
Even though your grace and love abound around us, we are so easily distracted by brokenness we see — and sometimes experience — daily. Disparities can be overwhelming: health concerns, broken relationships, grief, social injustices, financial uncertainties, loneliness, natural disasters, ecological disruptions, abuse, war, oppression, violence (just to name a few). Despite the challenges that may kindle discouragement, remind us of your promise that you will steadfastly continue to be with us. May your ultimate will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Further, give us the courage, confidence and wisdom to do things that enable your will being done – even when we might feel such actions are inadequate and wonder instead, “Will it really make a difference?”
We pray with gratitude for our clergy and church staff, whose daily commitments to service for your church provide a safe, welcoming, sacred space and community for worship, mission, learning and spiritual growth.
During our journey through this Lenten season, help us sense and share your unconditional love. Move us to respond with grace to others, just as you do for us. And humbly we ask you, God, to receive and respond to these important prayer requests from congregation members and neighbors:
We pray for…
We continue to pray for…
We offer prayers of thanksgiving for…
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 prayer request confidentially by clicking here.