Daily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Sunday, March 6, Evening
By Laura Still
Becoming Green
Read Psalm 63:1-8
“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”
The psalmist sings about a dry and desert place, and the image we see depends on what our experience of the desert might be. Endless waves of sand under a hot white sky, or rock-littered ravines and canyons with mesquite trees and cacti, or even huge stone formations scoured by wind are physical descriptions of deserts, and all of them are lonely. That of course is why the desert image is common in songs, poetry, and Bible stories.
Separation and loneliness are parts of human existence, and everyone feels lost and cut off at some point. The physical separation we have endured since the pandemic began is difficult enough, but mental and emotional effects can be harder to overcome. The sensation of drifting in limbo, waiting for the next thing to happen, is called languishing. It’s not quite depression, but still a paralyzing feeling of being unable to go forward or change your condition.
Change doesn’t happen by itself—it has to be initiated. This is what the psalmist understands, and so declares he will seek after God, praise his name, and in God’s name lift up his hands. He states his intention of clinging to God and trusting God to uphold him. If we begin by seeking after God and praising him, then God will give us the strength to lift up our hands and uphold us as the work of change begins.
Yes, there is work involved, and we may feel too exhausted or numb inside to believe we can make the effort. The good news is that God sees potential where we see only problems. We may be “a dry and parched land” inside our soul, but God can make the desert bloom.
Reflection
It springs from seeds sown when we are fallow, sleeping,
unable to understand the coming of green things,
or how sun reaches below ground to split the shell
& begin the growing.
We cannot know the mind of the sower, who feels
our inchoate fecundity, gives dreams of greenness
before we know we slumber, or that this limbo
is only waiting, a womb between dark & light
before our story starts,
anymore than we can stop a sprout from rising
out of its broken pod, struggling through soil
& stone towards air & light, breaking surface,
becoming green.
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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.
Our Journey Through the Wilderness
Featured, lentDaily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Sunday, March 13, Morning
By Barry Christmas
Our Journey Through the Wilderness
Read: Matthew 4:1-4
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”
One of the many stories relating to Lent is Jesus being tempted by Satan in the wilderness. Today, all of us can relate to this encounter. In the wilderness of a pandemic, we too are being tempted by Satan. HE desires for us to give up hope, to fall away from our faith and church, and to turn against one another. I see some of us as being much like the children of Israel in the book of Exodus when they wandered in their desert wilderness, grumbling, complaining, turning on one another and questioning God all along the way.
This global pandemic has become our personal wilderness. We see so many people who are discouraged, angry, perplexed, depressed, and scared of what the future has in store for us. There are so many unanswered questions such as, “How much longer is this going to last? Will this pandemic ever end? With the cost of everything on the rise and the problems with the supply chain, will I be able to find the basic needs for sustenance for me and my family; and if I do, will I be able to afford them?”
But just as God provided miracles for the Israelites in their wilderness, He will sustain us with His love and grace, He will feed us with the manna of His comforting words, and He will provide for our every need – physically, emotionally and spiritually. All He requires of us is to trust Him, listen to the words that proceed from His mouth, and claim His promises as our own.
One day when all of this is in the rearview mirror, I envision us experiencing a renewal of faith and hope like we have never seen before. In the meantime, stay firm in your faith and continue to love and support one another. Ask yourself these questions: How is my journey through the wilderness progressing? … and how can I help someone else in their journey?
Prayer
Dear Jesus, my Faithful Shepherd, please calm my anxieties, give me the strength and stamina to face any difficulties I might encounter, and assure me of your ever present love and care. As one of your lambs, please guide me with your staff and keep me from all harm. Amen.
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Weekly Lenten Prayer – March 8, 2022
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of March 8, 2022
Rev. Jan Buxton Wade
O God of Lengthening Days, we have traveled our own ways for so long that we fear we might not find that singular trail that leads to your redemption. Call out to us once again, we pray, that we might catch sight of you across the way; then we shall move with haste to trace your steps. And on that road of penitence, we will not fail to notice the tracks of your own tears, for you indeed weep at our waywardness. And your tears surely fall more freely during this season, for your beautiful earth is split apart by terror and tribulation. Guide all those besieged by the evil powers of this world, and lift up the fallen through your holy love. Only you, True God from True God, can bring hope out of hopelessness.
Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.
We struggle to shape our lifestyle to yours, O River of Holiness, but you are gentle and merciful as we waver time and time again. You pour your gifts of grace and mercy upon us even before we ask; still we whisper our most recent failings in these moments . . . . . . . . . . Wash us anew in your spring rains, reminding us that your baptismal mark is ever upon us. Rinse away the discord and unease that live within us and around us, and receive these spoken prayers of your people at Church Street who wait for your cleansing touch:
You are the God of endless lovingkindness; therefore, we ask you would link our prayers with the prayers of all around the globe who turn to you in hope:
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?
Becoming Green
Featured, lentDaily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Sunday, March 6, Evening
By Laura Still
Becoming Green
Read Psalm 63:1-8
“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”
The psalmist sings about a dry and desert place, and the image we see depends on what our experience of the desert might be. Endless waves of sand under a hot white sky, or rock-littered ravines and canyons with mesquite trees and cacti, or even huge stone formations scoured by wind are physical descriptions of deserts, and all of them are lonely. That of course is why the desert image is common in songs, poetry, and Bible stories.
Separation and loneliness are parts of human existence, and everyone feels lost and cut off at some point. The physical separation we have endured since the pandemic began is difficult enough, but mental and emotional effects can be harder to overcome. The sensation of drifting in limbo, waiting for the next thing to happen, is called languishing. It’s not quite depression, but still a paralyzing feeling of being unable to go forward or change your condition.
Change doesn’t happen by itself—it has to be initiated. This is what the psalmist understands, and so declares he will seek after God, praise his name, and in God’s name lift up his hands. He states his intention of clinging to God and trusting God to uphold him. If we begin by seeking after God and praising him, then God will give us the strength to lift up our hands and uphold us as the work of change begins.
Yes, there is work involved, and we may feel too exhausted or numb inside to believe we can make the effort. The good news is that God sees potential where we see only problems. We may be “a dry and parched land” inside our soul, but God can make the desert bloom.
Reflection
It springs from seeds sown when we are fallow, sleeping,
unable to understand the coming of green things,
or how sun reaches below ground to split the shell
& begin the growing.
We cannot know the mind of the sower, who feels
our inchoate fecundity, gives dreams of greenness
before we know we slumber, or that this limbo
is only waiting, a womb between dark & light
before our story starts,
anymore than we can stop a sprout from rising
out of its broken pod, struggling through soil
& stone towards air & light, breaking surface,
becoming green.
Have a Prayer Request?
Submit your prayer request confidentially by clicking here.
Dangerous Journey
Featured, lentDaily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Sunday, March 6, Morning
By Nancy Carmon
Dangerous Journey
Read Isaiah 43:1-3
My home devotion study recently was entitled “Dangerous Journey”. I assumed the writers were going to reflect on Jesus’s temptation in the wilderness. That was a dangerous journey. The landscape east of Jerusalem down to Jericho is barren, wild, arid, and rocky. Jesus would have been hungry and thirsty, and it certainly would have been dangerous wrestling with the darkest forces of evil. Or even Jesus’s last journey to Jerusalem, where according to the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus tells the disciples what awaits him there. That was a dangerous journey too!
But the week’s readings were about the dangerous journey of faith. The “cost of seeking God and the danger of following Christ”. For Jesus, God’s call meant the ultimate sacrifice – the cross. For many missionaries serving in troubled areas, the call to service and faith may certainly be quite dangerous.
How can that be dangerous here in America where we have freedom of religion? Maybe the danger lies in what we choose. To say yes to God’s call requires saying no to our own voice, our self will, our own desires, and even sometimes to the voices of persons and things we love. Jesus tells the disciples that he has come not to bring peace, but a sword. A dangerous journey indeed.
A dangerous journey and a challenge for all of us this Lenten season is to step out in faith–out of our comfort zone: to be a greeter, to serve on a church committee, to write a Lenten or Advent devotion, to welcome a stranger sitting in our pew, to seek the consolation and power of prayer, to delve deeply into scripture, to join a Sunday School class, to fast and seek God’s call, to recognize our spiritual gifts and to use them for our church, our community, our world.
What can we expect when we say “YES” to God’s call? “I will be with you…for I am the Lord your God, the Holy one of Israel, your Savior.” Thanks be to God.
Prayer
Dear Jesus, open us to the possibilities of saying “YES” to you this Lenten season. We know that you will walk in faith with us on our “dangerous journey” of faith! Amen.
Have a Prayer Request?
Submit your prayer request confidentially by clicking here.
March Youth Update
YouthSenior Banquet – All Invited!
Each year, we gather to celebrate the graduating senior class of Church Street UMC. This year, the Senior Banquet is Tuesday, May 3 at 6:00 PM at Church Street in Parish Hall. All are welcome to attend! We will have a pasta bar dinner with salads and desserts. The suggested donation for the meal is $10.
Senior Banquet Registration
This Week…
Welcome
Featured, lentDaily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Wednesday, March 2, Evening – Ash Wednesday
By Steve Richardson
Welcome
Read Luke 15:20-24
“But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.”
Lent’s nature of repentance and renewal brings to mind the parable of the prodigal son. This is a story packed with many different layers of meaning. One that raises reassurance is the unconditional “welcome back” response of the father.
At Church Street, The Welcoming Christ statue adorns the space above the chancel altar. What a comforting and appropriate symbol for everyone’s contemplation, whether seated or when approaching the chancel altar for sacraments and sacred moments.
This lime-wood masterpiece was not always there. Prior to September 1974, a beautifully-crafted statue of the archangel Gabriel occupied that space. Gabriel is still present in the nave in the narthex balcony. Like parishioners, Gabriel now gazes forward to Christ. As noted in Dr. Dwight Wade’s book, Unfinished Journey, The Welcoming Christ was sculpted by acclaimed Boston artist, Arcangelo Cascieri. (It’s hard to overlook the coincidence of his first name, considering that the statue of the archangel played a role in this project!) In remarks about The Welcoming Christ, Mr. Cascieri stated, “I have tried to capture a spiritual pleasantness, kindness and welcome.”
In our day and age of seemingly widening divisions in our society, the notions of “spiritual pleasantness, kindness and welcome” stir senses of solace, calm and relief. The depiction of Jesus with raised hands and compassionate demeanor reminds us that all are invited, desired and accepted. Jesus longs us for his loving embrace.
Christ welcomes us all, just as we are. Therefore, as his followers, let us welcome one another, just as we are.
Prayer
Triune God, we’re humbled and grateful to realize that we don’t need to wait for your welcome. Your loving arms are always open, always outstretched to accept and embrace us. May we be mindful to do likewise among others, as we strive to live in your image.
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The Gift of 40 Days
Featured, lentDaily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Wednesday, March 2, Morning – Ash Wednesday
By Dwight Wade
The Gift of 40 Days
Read Matthew 4:1-11
“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The Tempter came and said to him..” (please open your bible and read all 11 verses).
How should I personally participate in a practice that Christians began over 1600 years before I was born? My Sevierville Methodist Church did not observe Lent when I was growing up. However, several decades ago, our denomination accepted this tradition, actually a rare gift, as we joined countless other Christians in this period of prayer, scriptural study, contemplation, confession, and the seeking of holiness. I was an adult before seriously asking myself how I might best honor this season set forth by the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.
When I read the familiar first eleven verses of chapter 4 of Matthew’s gospel (Jesus in the wilderness for 40 days of fasting, prayer, contemplation, and Satan’s testing), I think of his prolonged time alone. Ancient scripture often used the number 40 to mean a significant period (i.e., the deluge upon Noah’s ark for 40 days, Moses in Egypt 40 years, on Mount Sinai 40 days, and the 40 years wandering in the wilderness, etc.)
For a significant time, the past two years and counting, we all are being thoroughly tested by a dangerous, virulent virus. Unfortunately, we have witnessed anger, fear, ungraciousness, and even shocking behavior played out on many levels. Still, the Lord has seen us through. I feel led to make thanksgiving, contemplation, and kindness my ultimate practices this Lenten season, and perhaps others may feel the same. I hope to join you on Ash Wednesday to begin our 40 days.
Prayer
God of Grace, we humbly come to you as children who would join others in this time of preparation for the coming Easter celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We give everlasting thanks for this, your gift to all believers. We ask that you speak to us, that whatever we undertake these days of Lent will reflect our devotion to you and our love and concern for others. Amen.
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Submit your prayer request confidentially by clicking here.
Weekly Lenten Prayer – March 1, 2022
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of March 1, 2022
Rev. Jan Buxton Wade
Christ whose glory fills the skies, your mercies pierce the darkest morn and the most dreary night. As Jesus was transfigured on the mount, you transfigure everything you touch. Most Holy One, you remain our light upon the unknown path and shall keep us steady as we embark upon our own Lenten journey of inner transformation. And as we travel, help us unveil those secret sins we have hidden so long from view; may we discard them as worthless ashes along the way, especially these that weigh heaviest within us. . . . . . . . .
Have you not planted seeds of hope and second chances within the most barren landscapes? Just so, sharpen our inner eyes, we pray, that we might discover these sparks of wonder as we move forward, highlighting all that is worthy of revival. All praises to you, for you are the Grace that breathes so quietly and steadily within the soil, far beneath the clamor of the world.
And believing you are that Radiant Friend who listens to the deepest sighs of our souls, and knowing you never leave us alone, we name all those things that tug upon our hearts this week:
As people dependent upon your transformative power, we ask that you remold us, even as we praise your name and offer our prayers and petitions in the name of Christ, the True and Only Light who taught us these words:
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 – February 23, 2022
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of February 23, 2022
Rev. Jan Buxton Wade
Scripture tells us your spark of divinity resides within each of us. And whatever essence this spark is, we confess, such a notion of innate holiness unnerves us. Therefore, we have lacquered it over by our own illusions and self-interests. We wear our masks of acceptability, hoping we will fit in with the culture. We scramble to acquire the newest baubles on the market, reach for the fleeting, and attend to the voices of promoters who promise lives of ease and tranquility. Help us remove these barriers we have erected through the years that keep us from seeing ourselves as we really are, for we are children searching for the easy way. Surely your prayers and ours are the same: That we might work, trusting in your mercy, to expunge each layer of falseness within us, till one day we stand before you as our unvarnished selves, with all are fallacies cast aside, with all our divine possibilities shining in brightness.
Hope of the World, hear our prayer.
A wise one once attested that “in the end, nature is enough.” How true it is that you speak to us, Holy One, through the language of the universe, in the dialect of love that is understood by every race and tribe. The earth itself is your sacramental gift to humankind, and when we ignore it or mar it, it devalues your offering and pierces your heart. Silence, we pray, all that muffles your daily call to your people throughout the world. May we recognize your magnificence in the frame of the smallest leaf, in the glorious potential of the smallest seed, in the wind that calls forth the seasons. Then may we bend the knee in homage to the One whose breath plants life wherever it passes and whose stillness is sufficient to saturate every soul.
Hope of the World, hear our prayer.
The present perils of the world weigh heavy upon us, O Lord. The thunder of tanks and vibrations of jets disclose the violence already at hand. We pray for all the vulnerable ones in Eastern Europe whose lives and livelihoods are in jeopardy because of the menace of war. May your word of peace ring out, we pray, to shatter the sword and quell the drug-related cruelty rampant in the Philippines, in Yemen, Brazil, Venezuela, and Mexico. We lift up those affected by the deadly mudslides in Brazil, and all in developing countries where Covid rates remain high. Stand beside those persecuted ones everywhere because of their ethnicity, gender, or social class. Behind our posturing and claims of self-sufficiency, we are a frail people, dependent upon one another and upon your enduring mercy. Strengthen our resolve, Good Lord, for whatever lies ahead.
Hope of the World, hear our prayer.
May our prayers mingle with all those offered for the suffering in every place; and we add these concerns and thanksgivings that are offered by our friends, your beloved ones, at Church Street UMC:
Hope of the World, we believe you have accepted all our prayers that are offered in earnest, and ask that your holy presence would surround and sustain us throughout life’s journey; for we walk day by day with 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.
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Weekly Prayer – February 16, 2022
Featured, prayer for todayWeekly Prayers for the Church Street Family
Week of February 16, 2022
Rev. Jan Buxton Wade
Awaken us, we pray, to your Spirit-filled blessings that encircle the quiet earth. In our quest to “do” we forget you have called us to “be.” We confess we walk about with eyes closed to your splendors, but you display them for us anew every day: from the dew-crusted grass to the robin nibbling berries on a holly, from the faint rustle of the evergreen to the blue-white peaks in the distance, from the evening shadows across the lawn to the familiar face that welcomes us home. Deserving of so little, you place riches on our doorsteps. Open not only our eyes, but our souls as well, to your grace overflowing.
Lord of All, we thank you!
We praise you, Architect of Faith, for our church, and for all who have gone out from this place to serve you throughout the world through the decades. Week to week you call your willing workers from within our congregation to serve their fellow human beings in this community. We marvel at their tenacity and dedication as they go out to share food and clothing, to tend to the sick, to provide emotional support for school children, to welcome the stranger to the table, to advocate for just and equal opportunity for all. These followers teach us that your work is not finished, Lord, and that there are many ways in which each of us may use our personal gifts to carry your banner of hope.
Lord of All, we praise you!
God of Healing, here in your presence, we cannot ask for assistance for ourselves without offering praise for your divine work as we have wrestled with the Corona virus and its variants. It is you who pointed the way to healing, who emboldened professionals to serve despite the risks, who stood beside each grieving soul touched by this devastating illness. You have brought us this far, Firmest Friend, and you will never leave us comfortless.
Lord of All, we honor you!
In all humility, we now pray you would be mindful of the needs of those who are closest to our hearts: . . . . . . . . . . ; and also of those special circumstances of our brothers and sisters in Christ here at Church Street:
We offer this prayer and the prayers that remain unspoken in our hearts in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and hear us now as we pray the prayer he taught:
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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