Daily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Sunday, March 12, 2023 — Evening
By Steve Richardson
Symbols
Read: John 13:34-35
“…Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this,
everyone will know that you are my disciples…”
From small to large, symbols are everywhere in Church Street’s spaces. Even the very architecture and design of the building, nave, windows and other spaces are symbols reflecting devotion to God. We not only see symbols, though. We also can hear them through chimes and music and words spoken. We smell and taste them in communion. We feel them in sacred moments such as water as part of baptism, laying of hands in Confirmation, and exchanges of rings in marriage.
And there is the cross. Such a simple design, yet such a profound, multifaceted, multidimensional symbol of Christian faith. Emanating from it are our foundational beliefs. It is a symbol to which we bow or kneel, which many wear or carry, and about which we sing, such as, “Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim … Come, Christians, follow this triumphant sign.”
All such symbols are important. But even more than these is each of us. I believe that each of us is called to be a living symbol, to be an expression and representation of God-centered living; to serve one another in the name of Christ; and to love one another as God loves us unconditionally.
Church Street’s “Welcome Statement” aptly captures and symbolizes the character of our collective congregation:
“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.”
Let each of us, too, as an individual living symbol, strive daily to reflect this.
Prayer
Because all of us are symbols of something, God, inspire us to choose to be symbols of your love and grace today and every day. Amen.
Have a Prayer Request?
Submit your prayer request confidentially by clicking here.
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.
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.
Symbols
Featured, lentDaily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Sunday, March 12, 2023 — Evening
By Steve Richardson
Symbols
Read: John 13:34-35
“…Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this,
everyone will know that you are my disciples…”
From small to large, symbols are everywhere in Church Street’s spaces. Even the very architecture and design of the building, nave, windows and other spaces are symbols reflecting devotion to God. We not only see symbols, though. We also can hear them through chimes and music and words spoken. We smell and taste them in communion. We feel them in sacred moments such as water as part of baptism, laying of hands in Confirmation, and exchanges of rings in marriage.
And there is the cross. Such a simple design, yet such a profound, multifaceted, multidimensional symbol of Christian faith. Emanating from it are our foundational beliefs. It is a symbol to which we bow or kneel, which many wear or carry, and about which we sing, such as, “Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim … Come, Christians, follow this triumphant sign.”
All such symbols are important. But even more than these is each of us. I believe that each of us is called to be a living symbol, to be an expression and representation of God-centered living; to serve one another in the name of Christ; and to love one another as God loves us unconditionally.
Church Street’s “Welcome Statement” aptly captures and symbolizes the character of our collective congregation:
“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.”
Let each of us, too, as an individual living symbol, strive daily to reflect this.
Prayer
Because all of us are symbols of something, God, inspire us to choose to be symbols of your love and grace today and every day. Amen.
Have a Prayer Request?
Submit your prayer request confidentially by clicking here.
We Have Work to Do
Featured, lentLent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Sunday, March 12, 2023 — Morning
By Suzanne Matheny
We Have Work to Do
Read: Luke 24:13
“Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about
seven miles from Jerusalem.”
Our church history hearkens to the Civil War division in America – a division not yet healed. I have vivid memories of the Jim Crow era and my job as a nurse’s aide at the newly built UT Hospital with segregated spaces. I recoil at the memory of raw racist hatred spewed by a white male patient at the black nurse who was training me. How she could bear it is unfathomable! I later worked on third floor – designated for black patients, one of whom was teenage David, same age as I. Too soon, I mourned his death, and I wonder what his life would have been had he survived his heart illness. What if? The future held injustices for us both; however, mine would not be because of my skin color; some of his would have been.
Reflecting on racial division, the late Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd, III, imagined anew the Emmaus road.
“Those disciples knew plenty about injustice, hatred and loss… I imagine not just two disciples, but two types…some black, some white…seeking a new Easter where people of both races could share each other’s lives and honor and respect each other. What would it mean if we really embraced the fact that Christ crucified and risen has broken down the dividing walls between black and white, rich and poor…Easter happens when tombs are opened, old divisions heal, when people learn to forgive and to understand each other, when a society becomes more just and hopeful.”*
Prayer
God of Creation and Easter: We are created in your image and you are Spirit. Convict and forgive our human ways that see color over spirit. We know we have work to do. Help us see how and give us courage to build a just and hopeful world. Amen.
Have a Prayer Request?
Submit your prayer request confidentially by clicking here.
*Lloyd, Samuel T., III. Sermons from the National Cathedral: Soundings for the Journey, pg. 167ff
Weekly Prayer – March 8, 2023
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of March 8, 2023
Rev. Catherine Nance
O God who created the world, how beautiful is your creation!
How good it has been lately to look up at the night sky!
The full moon last night was so bright! We know the cycle will begin again …. Less light, more shadows, then the reflection and then brightness again. Thank you for the reassuring rhythm of the night sky.
Venus and Jupiter have twinkled so brightly! The clear skies at night have given us a glimpse of your glory! When things ‘down here’ do not make sense, we look up!
We thank you O God, for the gift of creation. When we feel the world is closing in on us, we simply look up at the cosmos. We look around at the spring colors! We notice the chirping of birds and pay attention to the outline of the mountains.
How blessed we are to live in such a beautiful part of the world.
We join our prayer with the hymn writer…
This is my Father’s world: he shines in all that’s fair; in the rustling grass I hear him pass; he speaks to me everywhere.
This is my Father’s world: why should my heart be sad? The Lord is King; let the heavens ring! God reigns; let the earth be glad!
Thank you, O merciful God, for this time of prayer. A pause in the day to give thanks, to praise your majesty and to offer prayers of thanksgiving and petitions. We offer the concerns of our church family ….
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.
March Update
Uncategorized, YouthSunday Schedule:
Worship – 8:30AM & 11:00AM
Sunday school – 9:45-10:45AM
NightLife – 5:00-7:00PM ($5 dinner)
Seniors: your Senior Info form is due this Sunday, March 24!!
Lenten Worship Night
This coming Sunday night, we will have a Lenten Worship Night to prepare our hearts and minds for Holy Week and the coming of Easter. This will take place during our regular NightLife time (5:00-7:00). We will begin with dinner in the Youth Area followed by a time of worship, reflection, and prayer in Parish Hall and the Nave. Pick-up will be in the Welcome Center at 7:00 PM.
P.S. Bring your prayer beads!
Summer with Church Street Youth
Last week, our summer newsletter went out with all our info for events for summer break! We’re so looking forward to spending the summer together. Below, you’ll see the links to the newsletter and our registration form. Please contact Jenny if you have any questions!
Earlybird Registration: April 16 | Final Registration: May 7
Summer Newsletter
Summer Registration
Lent at Church Street
NightLife – During Lent, we are meditating on the senses and using them to draw us back to our faith on a daily basis. One of Church Street’s clergy will join us each week to share how
Palm Sunday – April 2 (Youth Lenten Worship Night during NightLife)
Maundy Thursday – April 6
Good Friday – April 7
Easter – April 9
Senior Info
It’s hard to believe it is already time to be looking toward graduation for our graduating seniors! What a joy it is to see you learn and grow. You should have already received this email via mail & email, but reminders that deadlines are coming up! Mark your calendars and be sure to submit your information. Let Jenny know if you have any questions!
Sunday, March 24 – Senior Info Due
Sunday, April 2 – Scholarship Application Due
Tuesday, May 2 – Senior Banquet
Sunday, May 14 – Senior Sunday
Senior Info
Scholarship Application
High School Prayer Breakfast
This year, we are rotating locations of our High School Prayer Breakfast. Hopefully, this will allow more students to participate! Here is this month’s schedule:
Parent Sign-Ups
Meal Sign-Ups: Each Sunday, we serve our students breakfast and lunch. We ask families to volunteer to help make these meals happen! The sign-ups are below. If every family signs up for one breakfast and one dinner each, we will have nearly every week covered!
Breakfast Sign-Up
Dinner Sign-Up
Have you viewed our page on Church Street’s website? Check it out!
Jenny Cross, Youth Director
jcross@churchstreetumc.org
Fasting from Fear
Featured, lentLent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Sunday, March 5, 2023 — Evening
By Sarah Elliott
Fasting from Fear
Read: Psalm 27:13-14
“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the
living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
In a recent study performed by Penn State*, 91.4% of worry predictions among the cohort of participants with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) did not come true.
While many of us don’t have GAD, how much of our worry is unwarranted? How does excessive worry take away from our faith in God? David had faith. In the face of his enemies, he was always confident that the Lord would be victorious. Did he worry? Absolutely. In Psalm 3, David displays his fear for the many of his foes. However, he had faith God would deliver him. He waited for the Lord and was victorious. He could have ran and hid when he was afraid, but he had faith. How was his faith so strong?
Why are we fearful? Are we not promised a bright future by God? Like David, we can anticipate victory in the land of the living. God sent his son Jesus who promised to return and take us home to be with him. “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ,” John 1:17. Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
Can I strengthen my faith by fasting from fear? This Lenten season, when I find myself full of worry of things that might happen, I will replace the word fear with faith. I will have active faith that the Lord will deliver me. Active faith is a conscious effort to retrain my brain from focusing on fear to focusing on faith. The fear is likely not to occur, but if it does, God will walk with me and make me victorious.
Prayer
Most Heavenly Father, replace our fear with faith. Hear our confessions of hope, for we know you will keep your promises. Though our walk in the land of the living is filled with anxiety, grief, and illness, we hold strong to your promise of an eternal walk with you. Guide us with grace and truth in this land of living so our faith can be strengthened and overcome our fears. Amen.
Have a Prayer Request?
Submit your prayer request confidentially by clicking here.
Fasting from What to What?
Featured, lentLent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Sunday, March 5, 2023 — Morning
By Rev. Rick Isbell
Fasting from What to What?
Read: Matthew 6:17-18
Fasting is normally not a real popular word. When I was growing up I heard that others fasted from meat on Fridays. As I grew and began reading and studying the scriptures, I learned that fasting was more than just a “Friday thing.” The practice of fasting is scriptural and in both Old and New Testaments. Jesus fasted; he gave instructions for fasting; and even the early church practiced fasting. Fasting is part of our Christian DNA.
Most people think about fasting during the season of Lent. We think about something that we can easily give up like chocolate and say we are fasting. The more I learn the more I realize that fasting is more than depriving ourselves of food and drink. Fasting is an act of humbling yourself before God and relying more fully on God’s strength and guidance. Fasting can involve abstaining from physical nourishment; but it can also involve abstaining from things and behaviors that seem to control our lives. If we give up or fast from nourishment, things or behaviors, then what are we to take up in its place?
Lent is a good time to start practice fasting, but don’t stop there. Fasting is not just a Lent thing, it’s a year-long spiritual discipline. Fast from a meal each week and give that money to a food charity. Stop using social media for a certain time period and actually write or call a homebound person. Get away from the iPad or TV for a couple of hours or half a day and volunteer at a local nonprofit. Fasting is denying ourselves so we can take up what God would have us do.
Prayer
God, give me strength and guidance to deny myself this Lent and beyond for the sake of others. Amen.
Have a Prayer Request?
Submit your prayer request confidentially by clicking here.
Summer Newsletter
YouthRegister Here
Weekly Prayer – March 1, 2023
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of March 1, 2023
Rev. Catherine Nance
O God who shaped us from the dust, it is hard to believe that Ash Wednesday was a week ago. We had good intentions. We have good intentions. Forgive us for not following through or not truly paying attention to the intentions we set! We make the focus on ourselves instead of simply being with you. May this time of prayer tonight be a time of quiet…
Pause for a few seconds before reading ahead ….
Thank you for letting us start over, Gracious God! We are so grateful for your love! We look back over our day and remember the times we felt a sense of your presence, or experienced the graciousness of a stranger, or enjoyed conversation with a friend ….
Take time to remember moments from today ….
As we give thanks for your goodness today, we thank you specifically for sunshine and the bursts of yellow we see in yards and along greenways. The flowers are reminders of your creative powers and your abiding grace. It has been good to see people out walking and enjoying being outside today.
Take time to think of those who may be homebound or are not able to get outside…..
We thank you for all of the folks who gathered today for the Downtown Noonday Lenten Worship service. How wonderful it was to be at First Baptist with friends from other churches who call downtown Knoxville ‘home.’ May we be a powerful force of positivity and unity in a community that often seems divided. Let us use this time as an opportunity to pray for our downtown neighbors – those who work here, those who live here, those who go to school ….
Take a moment to imagine the streets surrounding our church …. Main Street with the government buildings … Henley with new condos and new hotels for tourists …. Cumberland with all of those students … across the bridge to Chapman Highway and the new growth that is happening ..
O God of all people, we do not want to be just a building on a corner but a place where ministry is inspired and all are welcome. May our neighbors and all who pass by know that we are praying for them. Open our eyes that we see opportunities to be neighbors.
Take a moment to imagine what evening looks like at the corner of Henley and Main … lights from inside buildings and lights on the streets
As nighttime comes, we pray for those who do not have a place to sleep indoors. We pray for those who are working third shift at hospitals and police stations. We pray for the safety and health of our downtown.
Thank you, O God who knows all of the people who drive and walk past our church each day, thank you for this opportunity of prayer for us to pray for your children near this corner.
Now, we offer prayers for our church family ….
We pray for…
We continue to pray for…
We continue to pray 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.
Who has Moved?
Featured, lentDaily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Sunday, February 26, 2023 — Evening
By David Lineberger
Who has Moved?
Read: Psalm 27:8-9
“You have said, ‘Seek My face.’ My heart says to You, ‘Your face, LORD, do I seek.’
Hide not Your face from me. Turn not Your servant away in anger, O You who
have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!”
There is a decades old joke where a couple is riding in their car together, and the wife says to her husband who is driving, “Sweetheart, do you remember how romantic we used to be when we first got married? We snuggled so close together in the car every time we drove anywhere.” The husband replied, “Yes dear, I remember, but I’m not the one who moved.”
During the season of Lent we focus on Christ’s suffering and death, and the reason His sacrifice was so needed. What better way to do that than an examination of our own relationship with God. Do you ever feel that God has abandoned you? Do you feel that you and our Creator are no longer close?
Sometimes we leave our prayer time until the last minute, lying in bed as we voice our concerns and thanks to God before sleep overtakes us. Sometimes we stop praying and feel like we’re just talking to ourselves. We begin doubting that God is listening to us at all!
The Psalmist speaks about our relationship with God in Psalm 27: 8-9, where he writes “You have said, “Seek My face.” My heart says to You, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.” Hide not Your face from me. Turn not Your servant away in anger, O You who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!
In reality, God has not abandoned us. He is right where He always is, loving us and desiring a close relationship with us. So often it is us who have pulled away, even trying to hide our sins from God.
For our salvation, God did turn away from Jesus as He was dying on the cross. Jesus suffered this abandonment so that we would never have to be forsaken by God. We can turn to the empty tomb and know that we have the assurance that God is always there for us! We pray for his strength and purpose to guide us on our journey. The last verse is a good prayer for Lent, or any time we want to open our hearts to God.
Prayer
Forgive me, ever present and loving Lord, for the times I have pulled away from you. Help me to seek a close and dependent life with You and know that you will always be there with your unfailing love. Amen.
Have a Prayer Request?
Submit your prayer request confidentially by clicking here.