BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

January 14, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Portal of Life, even before our birth, your gentle rapping was taking place upon the door of our hearts; and as time passed, that rapping came to us in the form of a nudge, a whisper, a vision of some presence beyond ourselves.  And as your calling unfolded, we placed our souls in your care, trusting that yours was the authentic foundation on which to build our lives. You have never failed us, Living God, and we remain humbled by your constancy.

In the January stillness, the night sky speaks to us.  What might lie behind that doorway to heaven, we wonder? We know there is energy there, and a life-giving force that ordained and sustains everything within that astonishing, celestial sphere. And even above that vast plain, stretching billions of miles, you are there, Shining One, concerned with even our fleeting thoughts and dreams. Yes, we are puzzled when we reflect upon the intricacies of your love; but we rejoice that we finally answered your knock and opened the door to our destiny.

We are only one speck in your grand universe, Sacred Designer, yet through your grace it was upon this earth that Jesus chose to dwell, showing us how to live as people of God.  His life gave witness to your own unwavering love, while we have fomented dissension, disquiet, and distrust in recent days, especially in our own land.  Have mercy upon us, we pray, and forgive our errant ways.  Wipe away all our missteps, especially . . . . . . . . . . Clear our vision and unite us in your wisdom, that we might be among those who build a future free of arrogance and suspicion.

In your mercy, receive these silent prayers of our hearts . . . . . . . . . . and also these praises and concerns offered on behalf of our friends at Church Street:

• Prayers appreciated: A broken leg has mended well
• One in isolation is thankful for prayers
• Gratitude for prayers: New meds seem to be working well
• Thankful that vaccinations taking place at a nursing facility
• Insight and humility for our nation’s leaders, that they may look to God as their model in serving others
• For help to arrive: Sister overwhelmed with caregiving
• Prayers for successful heart surgery Friday
• Sustaining one enduring chemo side effects
• New employment for young mother
• Healing of one recuperating from heart surgery
• That vulnerable couple may obtain virus vaccines soon
• Healing prayers for wife and mother at Mayo’s
• For a peaceful transition of power in nation’s capitol
• Healing: Husband seriously ill with Covid
• Prayers for a good lab report for sister
• For insurance to approve a chemo drug
• All grieving the deaths of loved ones
• Friend: Healing of wounds from car wreck
• Prayers for ill granddaughter and another being tested for virus

As darkness covers the earth, may we take our ease, cradling our hearts in the great mystery of your love that binds every prayer in the cosmos together. Grant us, and all whom we cherish, a peaceful night, we pray; and tomorrow, with your help, we shall rise to love, to forgive, to show mercy, to make peace, and to share the good news of Christ, who opens the door to eternal life:

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.

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

January 6, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Thus says the Lord:
Stand at the crossroads, and look,
    and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way lies; and walk in it,
    and find rest for your souls.

(Jeremiah 6:16)

O Holy Light That Shines Even in the Darkness, hold your lantern high, we pray, that your mighty beam will shine upon those who walk bruised, burdened, and blinded through the our broken world.  Our pain is deep and we question the unease, the uncertainty, the unknown swirling around us.  Our eyes fill with tears when we view the rioting and bloodshed smeared across our computer and television screens this very eve.  Surely you weep with us, as you witness our nation, most blessed of all nations, responding to our disagreements with violence.

O Restorer of Peace, we too stand at the crossroads as did your people in the prophet’s time.   In all our unrest, help us remember that our lives are forever intertwined. Despite your steady call for peace, we confess we are not harbingers of harmony ourselves.  Too often we have allowed our egos and willful emotions to rule the day.  Save us from ourselves, O Lord, removing bitterness within, that we may again be known as ones who choose the good way and walk in it, for it is the same road traveled by the Prince of Peace.

With you, O Holy One, all things are possible.  And so we ask you to calm the discord so prevalent our Capitol.  Where there is woundedness, bring healing; where there is ruin, bring restoration; and where there is malice, bring amity. In doing so, you will be reminding us that we are your people and you are our God.

We depend upon your watchfulness, your forgiveness, and your steadfastness to see us through all our trials, and we humbly offer our gratitude. The light of your grace is made known through these joys that are shared by your friends at Church Street.  May that same grace work within these personal situations most recently expressed by our church family:

• Family celebrates nephew’s return home after a 3-month stay in hospital with Covid
• Member thankful her business is recovering
• Couple eagerly await a new baby
• Thanksgiving: One healing well from knee surgery
• Family grateful that mother has moved from hospital to rehab
• Pray for God’s presence with one having surgery tomorrow
• Rest and recovery for one with heart condition
• Healing for friend in her 7^th week of hospitalization with covid
• Healing for daughter with recurrence of cancer
• Comfort for family whose mother died today
• For rapid distribution of vaccine for healthcare workers and the elderly
• Husband continuing recovery from serious heart ailment
• Strength for member coping with chemo side effects
• Prayers for educators and students this first week of school
• Courage and strength for one beginning chemo on Friday
• God’s presence with one whose medical tests were disappointing
• For chemo to further shrink pancreatic tumor

Remind us, Good Lord, that your love bridges any distance; and even in the most remote valley of fear, our cries reach the ears of your heart. So quiet our spirits this night as we slumber in the arms of your grace, for we know Heaven’s Star watches over us and Jesus prays with 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.

Have a Prayer Request?

Submit your prayer request confidentially by clicking here.

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

November 26, 2020

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

O One Who Calls Forth the Dawn, rise within us today. You streak the sky with hues of mauve and lavender, blue and gold, announcing yourself as the Master of the Universe.  How can we overlook your arrival when just outside our door you have planted astonishing messages of hope: each twig and leaf, each blade of grass, each stone and shrub shine with your effervescent glory. All these you send to remind us that now is the time to set aside our fears and doubts, our failures and misdeeds. All creation is made alive and new each morning through your vibrant love. Truly this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

O Maker Worthy of Celebration, a thousand thoughts of gratitude dance in our heads and we wonder: “How shall we name all your mercies?” Shall we begin at our birth, offering thanks for those who nurtured us out of the goodness of their hearts? Or perhaps we might recall those who taught us to read and write, to sing, who helped us find our own gifts, those who modeled sincerity and grace, who stood by us even when our decisions were poor. Moreover, we could praise you for the unspeakable wonders of creation, for the privilege of living in this country, the honor of voting, your sustaining hand that guided us throughout the decades. And beyond these are your ceaseless love, endless grace and unmerited forgiveness that have marked our days. Ah, even our calculators cannot quantify those infinite favors!  Instead, we shall celebrate your measureless grace by dancing to the tune of the wind today, by embracing the world, and by bowing to the Holy Mystery that gave us life itself.

O God Who Opens Wide the Door, this very day you call out to all your children. “Come and be filled!” you say.  We do pray for those who are unable to respond: for those who are too ill or weak to answer, for those who are so abused their ears remain closed to even the voice of kindest love, for those so blinded by grief that they cannot imagine goodness. You understand their reticence, knowing the bitter twists that characterize every banquet. There will, however, come that time when loss and suffering will dissolve, when all will be secure enough to respond, and all will feast at your table. Until then, we pray, look kindly upon all hurting hearts and hear of these situations mentioned by your people at Church Street:

• Family thankful that hip surgery yesterday was successful
• Grateful that a neighbor is supplying my Thanksgiving meal
• Gratitude that a father with brain tumor has died and no longer suffers
• Thankful for those continuing their pledges to our church
• A friend in ICU is regained consciousness after many weeks
• Healing prayers for a brother on ventilator in Chicago, effects of COVID and for his family members who are all infected
• Safety and guidance for all educators and staffs
• Restoration for a husband and father recovering from heart surgery
• Shrinking of a friend’s pancreatic tumor
• Family grieving the death of a beloved aunt
• Son & wife undergoing invitro fertilization, that they may have a healthy child
• Beloved wife facing a long road to recovery, strength for her husband as primary caregiver and their daughters
• That the virus vaccine may me made available soon
• Premature newborn in NICU at UT Medical Center and for mother recovering from surgery
• Prayers for wisdom, strength and guidance for a couple who are taking immediate custody of a newborn
• Protection and safety for all who are traveling this holiday
• A nephew in Nashville who is homeless
• Healing of a teenage daughter
• Healing of close friend in ICU with COVID pneumonia
• Blending of two families as a wedding approaches

You offer us this one day to do your bidding, Lord, and as we move through the hours ahead, may we be firm of foot and quick to open doors for those who feel shut out. Acknowledging our total dependence upon your mercy, we humbly offer all our prayers in the name of Jesus, our Unchanging Friend:

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.

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

November 23, 2020

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.

As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep,

 so I will seek out my sheep.  I will rescue them from all the places to which they

have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. Ezekiel 34:11-12

O Pursuing One, yes, we have wandered away from the hand that feeds and nurtures us. We have strayed, searching for contentment in more interesting places, in baubles that eventually lose their sparkle. We have allowed your voice to be muffled by the many pundits hawking their earthly brand of wisdom through self-help volumes. We felt this time we could make it on our own, but again we find ourselves trapped in a bottomless ravine of loneliness. In our hearts, we know to whom we belong and believe that you will not abandon your search until you locate each of your roving charges. Come quickly, Tender Guardian, for we long for your presence, we long for home.

Good Shepherd, we pray for all who have been elected to public office during this autumn of discontent. As they soon pledge their vows of loyalty and enter service in their various capacities, may they turn to you for their guidance. Lead them, we pray, in paths of worthy goals, in pursuing holy wisdom, in practicing discernment through communion with you.  And ardently we pray that politicians will move beyond partisanship toward collaboration in seeking out the truth, and in working for the highest good, not for just a select few, but for all people. As your beneficent hand has greatly blessed our land, may ours be known as a country that cares, as a beacon of blessing to your world which hungers and thirsts for hope.

Jesus, we know you as the Shepherd of the Sheep who recognizes each voice, as if there were only one of us. We are touched by your attentiveness, though we confess that much of what we share with you stems from the recurrent ramblings of our troubled hearts. Silently you allow us to bewail our predicaments and our dashed hopes as long as we desire.  Forgive us, we pray, when we forget to acknowledge those doors you continue to open for us; hear us now as we offer praise for your movement in our lives:  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   And in your mercy, receive both these praises and appeals on behalf of our church family:

• Prayers appreciated: One’s PET scan results excellent
• Grateful: Mother’s surgery went well on Friday
• Gratitude: Wife returned safely from Mayo Clinic
• Thankful that eye procedure was successful
• Thankful that a grandson is healed of COVID-19
• A pathology report showed no malignancy
• Gratitude: Husband is home following heart surgery
• Prayers for a daughter’s health, sufficient food and happiness for family
• Prayers for husband having a cardiac conversion today
• Healing prayers: Parents and grandparents in ICU
• Daughter, grandchildren, and all children affected by the virus
• Strength for one caring for former husband in ill health
• Continued prayer: That a friend’s treatments will sufficiently shrink his pancreatic tumor, preparing him for surgery
• Faithful Christian with cancer, in ICU
• Reconciling a family conflict
• Safety for all healthcare workers who serve at great risks
• Beloved husband in hospice care, wife who is grieving
• Strength for stressed brother caring for his wife who has dementia
• Prayers that our community will heed public health guidelines
• Friends and family members unable to visit loved ones in isolation

Ours is not to know all things, even concerning the workings of your healing mercies.  Rather, it may be sufficient to know that every prayer uttered is worthy of your grace and is held in sacred trust in that holy realm.

Lord of Love, with all our roving through the years, we have seen you as Christ, traversing every trail to find us, reaching down to free us from the brambles, and returning us to your safe dwelling. And what would gladden your heart most of all? To see us following your example, seeking out others who are scattered on those days of clouds and thick darkness, and returning them to your fold. Strengthen us to do just that, we pray, for we wish to make you happy.

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.

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

November 18 2020

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer.  From the end of the earth I call to you, when my heart is faint.  Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you are my refuge, a strong tower of strength.  Let me abide in your tent forever under the shelter of your wings. Psalm 61:1-4

Highest Hope of the Weak, we call to you when our hearts are faint. We don’t want to believe that hatred and fear have power in our nation, but we have heard the testimonies and we have seen for ourselves how these bitter forces have already rooted themselves in too many places. Don’t let the spirit of discontent take root in our souls, we pray; for the heart that seeks to separate is the heart that does not love. Help us to overcome that downward tug by becoming a force for love. Strengthen us to live out a kind of love that makes us stand up on a high rock, crying out for the cause of peace, justice, and reconciliation, as did Jesus.

O Promised Rest, your love has brought us this far, and by your grace, we have been blessed throughout the years, celebrating joys and enduring the sorrows of this life. And as we consider ourselves survivors, we resist admitting that we are also bone-tired.  Our sense of responsibility and our need to control have gotten out of hand, resulting in our adding work hours to our already crowded days, while subtracting time to rest, reflect, and cherish your good gifts. The pandemic has whittled away our confidence and we are frayed around the edges. So receive us into your loving arms that we might receive that promised rest for the weary. Let us kneel at your feet and take our ease. Let us leave our burdens there, knowing you will manage them until we are once again refreshed and ready to carry on.

Of course, Prescient Lord, you know our needs before we even speak them, but still you want us to turn to you as our trusted confidant. And somehow, as we give voice to our longings, we receive a sense that our pleas have entered the sacred realm of heaven, where even the saints are praying for us. No prayer is ever wasted, and in that belief, we bare our souls before you, sharing our brightest joys, our earnest hopes and our gripping losses. . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . .  In your mercy, gather these and all the prayers of the Church Street family which we now whisper in the name of Christ:

• Gratitude: A brother is home from hospital, but pray for full healing
• Prayers appreciated: A teenager is moving toward healing
• Thanksgiving: Retinal surgery was successful
• Family celebrates the news of a much-desired pregnancy
• Gratitude that a mother is recovering well from virus at home
• Pray for a wife having further consultations at the Mayo Clinic on Thursday
• Peace for faithful member awaiting PET scan results this week
• Prayers for young family of four in isolation due to virus exposure
• Full recovery for husband from risky heart surgery
• A door to open for a struggling woman in need of a job, and for insurance to approve an important medical procedure
• Refugee children, that they may be released and reunited with families
• Prayers for resolution of conflicts within two families
• Strength for stressed brother caring for his wife who has dementia
• Lift up a very ill sister-in-law who remains in ICU with COVID
• Continued healing for teenage daughter and an ill brother
• Comfort for husband and entire family: young wife died last week
• Prayers that a lonely daughter will find friends and companionship
• Healing for an elderly father hospitalized with COVID
• Guidance for weary caregiver; continued healing for her husband
• Healing from virus: Young grandson and a young granddaughter
• Prayers that a daughter finds the work God wants her to undertake
• Faithful Christian friend in ICU with progressive cancer

We leave these prayers in your tender care. And if it isn’t too much to ask, grant that we may live lives so close to your Son’s that Jesus’ story will be our story too; and that we may also abide in your tent forever, under the safe shelter of your wings:

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.