Weekly Prayer – October 13, 2021

Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family

Week of October 13, 2021

Submitted by Rev. Palmer Cantler*

God of Sun and Moon, Star and Sky, your wonder is beyond our imagining. We thank you for the gift of this world we share, and for the common bonds that we share as your children.

Bless us God, as we seek to find a way toward the peace you invite us to share. Guide us God as we walk that delicate line between being faithful to our own relationship with you, and yet remain understanding of those whose path is vastly different from our own. Remind us often that being faithful does not require that we close ourselves off from the faith of others.  Open our hearts, minds and spirits to people of every faith and culture. May the Mystery of your ways be the bridge that draws all of your people together in prayer for peace in our time.

We pray for those who are in special need of your grace and healing today. For those who live in fear of violence; for refugees everywhere; for political prisoners and for those who imprison them; God, we ask for peace.   For those who are grieving, or hungry, or in despair; for the lonely, and all who are ill or suffering, for any who struggle with addiction, and for all who live with chronic illness.

We lift up to your holy light these prayers of both praise and need, knowing that you hear every prayer uttered with faith and trust:

  • Gratitude: A son has entered a rehab program
  • Praises for high score on advanced statistics exam
  • Family of three generations grateful for vacation
  • Thanksgiving for a financial gift — help for expenses
  • Member thankful knee is healing quickly following surgery
  • Gratitude that a son is doing well in a rehab setting
  • Thankful that medication is addressing anxiety
  • Pray for family grieving tragic death of daughter (24) in auto accident
  • Healing prayers for son addicted to meth
  • Treatment for unvaccinated brother in Texas
  • Comfort for couple grieving death of 6-month-old daughter
  • Mother in treatment for thyroid cancer; father with leukemia
  • Prayers for courage: One having cancer consult on Friday
  • Pray for beloved husband with ALS, declining & discouraged wife
  • Couple ask for prayers, tensions related to young son
  • Church family mourning death of husband/father on Tuesday
  • Safety for two families traveling in Europe for 2 weeks
  • Continued prayer for recovery: daughter with Covid
  • Healing for best friend: Aggressive cancer treatment
  • Recovery for cousin on ventilator
  • Discouraged member recovering from foot injury
  • God’s watch care for dear friend beginning chemo today; also facing bone marrow transplant on 10/19
  • Member asks for prayers to receive a work reassignment
  • Family grieving death of grandmother
  • All church friends who are bearing deep grief

God, we trust in your power to be present with the suffering. We trust in your Spirit’s power to bring comfort, faith and strength where it is needed. We pray, bring your radical, scandalous peace into our midst, and touch us all with your love, for we ask it in the name of the One who calls us ever forward, Jesus Christ our Lord, praying together:

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.

*Source: Life in Liturgy (lifeinliturgy.wordpress.com)

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Weekly Prayer – July 7

Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family

Week of July 4, 2021

Written by Rev. Jan Buxton Wade

We come to you this week, O God of Creation, full of praise and awe for the miracles that greet us each morning; the panoply of colors that peak in summer’s glory astound us with their shading and intensity. Even the dew on the delicate rose leaf and clover radiate your splendid grace. And at eventide, you blanket us with deepening layers of pink and gray, inviting us to enter your realm of solitude and peace.  Forgive us, we pray, when we overlook the treasures of hope and promise you spread out before us. Make keen our dull senses that we might bow in reverence each time we encounter your voice of encouragement, especially when it comes without words.

Unseen Companion, you prod us to move beyond the ordinary realm of thought and to center our lives around the mystery of your unfailing and eternal love.  In our heart of hearts, we do believe, and yet we confess our confidence falters when we consider the plight of our world. Hatred, both on foreign shores and here in our own land, has brought terrorism and savagery to new levels.  Economic, ethnic, and racial turmoil escalates. Send your healing to every fractured place, we pray, and plant that peace beyond understanding in the hearts of your people everywhere. As your church, teach us when to speak, when to challenge, and when to be silent.  We would be part of the reconciliation of our neighborhood and our world, though we most often choose the safer way. When our faith dims and our energy wanes, give us that daring courage of your first disciples. Remold us into unfailing witnesses who affirm and proclaim the worth and dignity of each living soul.

Your Son Jesus became one of us, that he might bear the burdens of this human life. And still today, in his consoling manner, he reminds us that there is no pain or suffering to be endured where he is not walking beside us.  There is much on our hearts as we lift up the victims in Miami housing disaster, those in the path of another tropical storm, others besieged by drought and wildfires, and all your children caught up in the relentless pandemic invading developing countries. Embrace all, O Christ, for you know each one by name.

Caring Listener, we know you hear every muffled prayer extended in your name, for you have been moving in the lives of your people at Church Street.  Receive these specific notes of thanksgiving that come from our hearts, and also be at work in the lives of those who call out to you as they face their individual challenges:

Thanksgivings:

  • Prayers have resulted in a miraculous healing
  • Thanksgiving for safe travel to family reunion
  • One thankful for sustaining grace – final round of chemo
  • Bereaved family has felt comfort of God’s presence
  • An adult son’s depression has lifted through prayers
  • Medical student thankful: critical exams completed
  • Member celebrates birth of new great grandchild
  • Medication & therapy helping a husband’s voice ailment
  • Young couple excitedly plan an August wedding
  • Caring members who visit the aging and infirm
  • One celebrates offers of assistance for a church endeavor
  • Patience is sustaining one during personal trials

Concerns:

  • Solace for those whose family members nearing death
  • Healing grace for a mother with bone cancer
  • Healing beloved mother with cancer and easing of her pain
  • Mending two broken relationships
  • Continued prayers for brother with cancer
  • Safety and guidance for all involved with M.A.D in the City youth mission
  • Mercy and comfort for loved ones near death
  • Courage & healing for member in radiation treatment
  • Three families splintered by addiction
  • Cherished husband in ICU, guidance for his wife
  • Healing mercies for member beginning cancer treatment this week
  • Parents both suffering major illnesses
  • Direction for troubled teenage nephew
  • Physical strength for wife and husband in physical therapy
  • A brother’s spiritual growth and wisdom
  • God’s presence with beloved sister in decline
  • Healing for an ill couple, professional performers
  • Guidance for wife and her husband with dementia
  • Proper diagnosis: Young niece experienced 2nd seizure
  • Son in ER with fainting episodes
  • Elderly mother who suffered a fall

Love Beyond Imagining, by your sacred gift of life and your creation renewal, which come new every morning, we are honored. May the work we offer in your name this week be worthy of our calling. And whatever efforts are unworthy, touch with your immense grace, that they may be transformed for the greater good. All our named prayers and all those held secure in our hearts we offer in the name of our Savior and Redeemer who asked us to pray in this way:

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 – June 9

Weekly Prayers for the Church Street Family

Week of June 6, 2021

Written by Rev. Jan Buxton Wade

O Love Beyond Our Imagining, we pause these moments in midweek to remember and to praise you. As we reflect upon the mystery of our lives, we cannot apply reason to our existence – your transcendent grace presents the only answer.  Our bodies in themselves are miracles not to be taken for granted. The love we receive from others, the way your Spirit works within us, the beauty of creation, the events that have led us to you, are all outside the bounds of our understanding. These are veiled mysteries that speak of your love, so teach us to move beyond the realm of what makes sense and to remain open to that love that permeates our past, our present, and our future. Breathe in us, O Breath of Life, as we breathe in you.

God of Tender Mercies, we carry heavy personal griefs this day: for those treasured souls who have died, for relationships that are damaged, for our brothers and sisters who are despondent and lonely, for those whose bodies and minds are failing, for those who are unemployed or underemployed.  And underneath we also carry the collective grief of our world: the pain inflicted on persons of color, the indigenous children whose bodies are being unearthed in Canada, the murder and maiming caused by terrorist organizations, persecution of Christian, Jew, and Muslim at home and abroad, the unrest and instability within our own country. Lead us, we pray, to those rivers of healing, where your waters of mercy might soothe us and also cleanse our hearts of hatred, prejudice and retribution.

You have called us, Lord, to be a light in this city, but we confess that we have failed you in many ways. Forgive us for focusing on things that matter little and how we pass by opportunities that could make a world of difference in our community. Open us more fully into your mission, that your holy beam would shine through us, drawing all others into a closer communion with you.

As you have shown mercy to us throughout all our days, receive our thanksgivings; and also hear the cries of each one who offers personal prayers in your name:

Gratitudes:

  • Miraculous healing of friend from electric shock
  • Thankful for prayers: Hip pain is decreasing
  • Prayers appreciated: One’s anemia vastly improved
  • Opening of in-person Sunday School classes
  • Cherished sister now home from the hospital
  • One’s severe anemia is much improved
  • Heart ailment identified and is being treated
  • Celebration: Shoulder surgery deemed unnecessary
  • Physical therapy alleviating pain
  • Thanksgiving for a successful intestinal surgery
  • A business owner thankful for an important contract
  • Couple grateful for a long-awaited anniversary trip
  • New pastor celebrates his upcoming appointment
  • Family thankful a daughter is moving to Knoxville
  • Gratitude for a son’s visit lengthy visit

Concerns:

  • Healing within a family broken by addiction
  • Young married couple seeking a stronger relationship
  • Healing for husband with long-term Covid symptoms
  • Beloved mother in heart failure
  • Member suffering severe depression
  • Alleviation of a member’s anxiety
  • Healing for husband and wife recovering from surgeries
  • Member awaiting radiation treatment
  • Relief for those who grieve
  • Prayers for family whose mother died this week
  • Cherished husband who has moved to memory care unit
  • Husband who is failing, strength for his wife, caregiver
  • Strengthening of one dealing with long-term cancer

O God, Father of All Mercies, we kneel in awe when we recognize your movement within our lives. And may that recognition kindle in each of us renewed faith, renewed courage, and renewed resolve to live lives worthy of the love you gave us in Jesus. May we cling to your Son, that we may be among those who mount up with wings as eagles, who run and are not weary, who walk and do not faint:

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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Evening Prayer – March 15

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

March 15, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Enduring One, you have invited us to this Lenten Journey because in your wisdom you knew our souls had listened too long to the world’s hollow voice. All praise to you that you have summoned us these weeks past to open our eyes to re-discover the wonders surrounding us, to reflect upon your true purpose for our lives, to teach us new songs of gratitude and humility. We have stumbled, but you hold out your scarred hand and share yourself with us again and again.  Continue that inner work, Lord, for we have miles yet to travel.

Here in the time of twilight, we make our sincere confessions: We worry about balancing our dinner menus, forgetting the millions who are steps away from starvation. We think we deserve the best of everything, forgetting that everything we have comes from the efforts of someone else. We draw chalk marks to delineate who is in and who is out, forgetting that you love all equally and all are welcome. We turn on our security systems and remain secure in our homes, forgetting our neighbors’ children must dodge bullets when they travel to and from school.

We repent of our shallowness, Lord, but give thanks that you have planted saints among us whose open and unselfish ways convict us of our self-absorption. Grant that we, as they, might learn to view the world through the lens of Jesus, the Son who tells us it is never too late for new beginning.

Never-Ending Mercy, you carry us through on the comforting melody of your forgiveness, that music that never ceases; and because of your movement through our lives, we bring our personal praises from our Church Street family, and also our prayers for your divine assistance:

  • Gratitude for prayers: Heart cath went smoothly
  • Thanksgiving for first in-person worship
  • Four grateful for second dose of vaccine
  • UMW celebrates major gift for missions
  • Family grateful for weekend visits from relatives whom they have not seen in more than a year
  • Family thankful for settling in new home
  • One grateful for tolerating cancer treatments
  • Comfort for family whose mother died on Sunday
  • Solace and comfort for mother, 90, having internal bleeding and guidance for caregiver brother
  • Prayers for diagnosis of youngster’s seizures
  • Healing: Young sister with ongoing cancer concerns
  • Comfort and support for friend divorcing
  • Prayers for one who is disillusioned by illness
  • Rest and recovery for one following throat surgery
  • Young adult having fourth round of chemo this week
  • Dear friend awaiting medical treatment
  • Prayers that new meds improve breathing issues
  • Safe delivery of first grandchild
  • Prayers for justice in a custody case

We lie down in peace, nestled under your cool sheets of mercy, secure in the knowledge that even as we sleep, you are erasing our sins, untying our burdens, soothing us, and making us whole. As darkness descends, may our parting vision be of Jesus resting his hand upon us, as we whisper the words he taught us so long ago:

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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Faith and Trust

Daily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC

Sunday, March 14, Morning

By Edwin C. Kelso, April 10, 1976

Faith and Trust

Read Mark 10:52

“And Jesus said to him, ‘Go your way; your faith has made you well;’ and immediately he received his sight and followed him on his way.”

This verse from Mark tells of the blind beggar, Bartimaeus, receiving his sight through one of Christ’s miracles. The miracle would not have taken place had not Bartimaeus had faith and trust in our Lord.

In more recent times, many supposedly terminally ill patients have been miraculously cured. Their doctors could offer no explanation. A heavenly Doctor had a hand in the cure. There is a great need to put ourselves in the hands of God and trust Him.

In A MAN CALLED PETER, Catherine Marshall says,

“You trust your bed, You trust your precautions against burglars,

You trust the police force … And the fire brigade …

And trust yourself to sleep …

Which is another way of saying

You trust yourself to God.

 

The believer trusts himself to God … believing that God will watch over him.

Will you relax spiritually today?

Will you leave with God – now – the troubles you have been

carrying around for so long?

Will you ask Him – now – to take them away from you?

and let you relax in simple trust … just like a child?

Will you?”

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we have seen that without trust there can be no free and wholehearted obedience. Now we must look at the other side: without obedience there can be no real trust. We ask Thee very simply – take care of us, release all our fears and worries that we may better serve Thee, In Christ’s name. Amen.

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Dedication of Ourselves

Daily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC

Sunday, February 28, Evening

By Jim Kennedy, March 7, 1979

Dedication of Ourselves

Read Matthew 20:25-28

Were we to be called on to list those ideals which have made this nation great among all nations, we might list its citizens’ devotion to liberty, freedom, independence, justice, mercy, honor, duty, prudence, reason, virtue, peace, wisdom, courage, and fortitude. One can almost imagine a plaza or park somewhere with monuments to these ideals. If a Christian were asked what monuments seemed to be missing, he might instantly mention monuments dedicated to faith, hope, charity, and love.

Upon deeper reflection he would also note that at least four other monuments were missing, for a Christian must concern himself with remembering what has gone on before and what has been done on his behalf, and must also concern himself with preparing and dedicating himself to do that which he is called upon to do. Finally, a Christian must remember that sacrifice which was made on his behalf, and must be willing to sacrifice himself every day by giving of his own most precious resources – his time, his energy, his devotion, his spirit, and lastly, his financial resources – to further what God would have him do.

The ideals of that we must remember, prepare, dedicate, and sacrifice are especially important at Lent for it is not a time of doing with less, but a time of beginning to do more for others. It is not merely a time of giving up and doing without daily pleasures, because it is a time of giving more of one’s most precious resources – one’s time and one’s soul!

Prayer

Father, help each of us remember what Christ did for our sake upon the cross, and help us prepare ourselves to dedicate our hearts, souls, minds, and bodies to do Thy will, for we realize that no sacrifice we make can equal yours. In Your Son’s name we pray. Amen.

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Evening Prayer – February 3

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

February 3, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

O Calm Beyond the Sunset, you have designed this shimmering day and extended it to us freely through your grace. And now the evening wind picks up and breathtaking shadows lengthen across the fields; this is another of your invitations as we stand on the edge of your pool of darkness. “Come, enter the restorative flow,” you say, “the temperature is refreshing and all your daytime distractions are hidden away.”

We do long to lay down our troubles on the banks of healing shade and step inside. Give us such courage. While others may follow the world’s path and continue their work through the darkest hours, grant that we might linger awhile with the Holy One who beckons, giving rest to the weary and fulness to the depleted. . . . . . . . . . .

Sea of Mercy, look down this eve on those living in the land of broken dreams, your beloved who desperately yearn for solace: the hungry, the refugee, the prisoner, the lonely, those far from home and those whose homes have been turned upside down by illness, the loss of a loved one, by personal conflict. Break into their lives with waves of your healing assurance, reminding them they are not forgotten. Grant that they, and each of us who pray this night, may hear the rippling calm of your voice which gives us courage to wait in times of sorrow.

Already, we feel you working on our behalf and extend our deepest gratitude.  And also lay before you these deepest concerns on the hearts of your Church Street community:

  • Ill member thankful to be released from hospital
  • Cancer survivor thankful for prayers, all going well
  • Praises for wife whose radiation treatments are complete
  • Member thankful for meds that are helping her pain
  • Two express gratitude for Bible Study offerings on Zoom
  • Gratitude: Young couple with Covid greatly improved
  • Fourteen express thanks for virus vaccinations
  • Healing prayers for cousin suffering from stroke
  • Comfort for family: Husband killed in auto accident last week
  • Healing for one whose cancer has spread
  • For chemo funds to be approved
  • Mother in treatment for pancreatic cancer
  • One enduring chemo treatments
  • Courage for alcoholic son to enter rehab
  • Proper diagnosis and treatment of painful leg condition
  • Pain relief for cancer victim
  • Healing: Husband recovering from heart surgery

We are neither righteous nor devout, nor even worthy; still you have drawn close to us and wrapped us in your amazing love. You hear our cries and you touch us with your mercy, especially in these ways: . . . . . . . . . . As we close our eyes and enter that chamber of rest tonight, fill our hearts with thanksgiving to the One who offers us life eternal:

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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Evening Prayer – January 27

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

January 27, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Each of you should use whatever gifts you

have received to serve others,

as faithful stewards of God’s grace

in its various forms.

I Peter 4:10

 

Even before our eyes opened this frosty morning, your blessings were floating down: the newspaper delivered before dawn, the floor toasted by the warm flow from the radiator, the purring cat on the stoop, and the dew on the grass sparkling as crystals strewn by a loving hand. You have walked with us through these long days of heaviness, Generous One; and because you deem us worthy, you granted us this, another day of living under your grace. Praise be to you, Giver of Life!

Now the dusky hours have arrived and we ponder the personal talents you have imparted to each of us – gifts of music, decision-making, hospitality, creativity, healing, teaching, and others – gifts not sought, but offered free of cost for the betterment of your world  . . . . . . . . . . .   And in review, we ask ourselves how we may have employed our individual talents today in the service of others . . . . . . . . . .  Please forgive those instances we uttered idle words and performed hollow deeds, especially . . . . . . . . . . Because of Jesus, you do take notice of even our small efforts made in sincerity. May our simple services multiply as we mature in our faith, that in some unknowable way, your kingdom will be enriched.

Christ, our Confidant, surely the hallways of heaven are replete with pleas and petitions, perhaps even stacked to infinity. Maybe your rooms are filling up and there is little space left for the angels to pass through the hallways. But thanks to you, each prayer is received in earnest, as it is extended; each is valued, as is each one who offered it.  Therefore, we unhesitatingly offer our private prayers in your name . . . . . . . . . .  And we lift these also on behalf of our friends at Church Street:

  • Member offers gratitude for ease of logging onto online worship and connecting to Sunday School class
  • Thankful niece’s health is improving
  • Gratitude for added donations to local missions
  • Husband and wife grateful for vaccine appointment
  • Comfort for sons: Beloved mother nearing death
  • One hospitalized with multiple maladies
  • Continued healing of young relative
  • Solace for member: Death of a beloved brother
  • Healing for cherished cousin, stroke victim
  • Couple struggling with virus recovery and depression
  • Mother with pancreatic cancer, wisdom for MD Anderson physicians
  • Guidance and wisdom for our nation’s leaders
  • For peace to reign in our country
  • Increased availability of virus vaccine
  • Aging father recovering from surgery
  • Three recovering from serious heart issues
  • Healing: Two families with Covid
  • Infant cousin with brain tumor, wisdom for physicians
  • Strength for two mothers: Sons gripped by addiction
  • Continued prayers: One enduring chemo
  • Strength for two weary caregivers
  • For insurance company to approve chemo

Our Christian journey began and will end in you, Holy One, for you have shown us that our lives do matter. Watch over us all as the darkness falls and give us the confidence to rest in you, with the prayer of your Son upon our lips:

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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Evening Prayer – January 25

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

January 25, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

Abide with me, fast falls the eventide;

the darkness deepens, Lord with me abide.

When other helpers fail and comforts flee,

help of the helpless, oh abide with me.

 

God, Our Refuge and Strength, as we have been bound to you since our birth, so you have bound us together with all your beloved in a common life. Here, as we rest within this circle of deepening darkness, we admit that our ties with our brothers and sisters of our nation have been splintered. We have not learned to listen to your voice, and we do a paltry job of attending to others whose views do not match our own. We have attached labels to our neighbors and placed them in fixed categories. Forgive us for wounding you and those whom you love, including ourselves.

 

Come not in terrors, as the King of kings,

But kind and good, with healing in thy wings,

Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea,

Come, Friend of sinners, and abide with me.

 

Friend of Sinners, pierce our hearts with true repentance, as we reflect upon our personal transgressions, particularly these most recent ones:  . . . . . . . . . . We are indeed a frail people, too easy to seek approval, too eager to follow the crowd. Deep inside, though, you see sparks of possibility.  Take those tiny pieces of our better selves, fuse them together, we pray, and absolve us of every thought and deed that is not worthy of the name “Christian.”

 

I need thy presence every passing hour:

What but thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?

Who like thyself my guide and stay can be?

Through cloud and shadow, oh abide with me.

 

Holy One, through whose providential care we enjoy goodness and joy in life, we honor you. We must confess, however, that we are tired. You know that we are better at waiting if we know when the end will arrive; but after these long months of pain and loss, we admit that our patience is growing thin. Beginning tonight, shore us up, that even when we hardly know what to pray for, the Spirit will help us in our weakness. And send your evening star to shine upon us and upon all who live under cloud and shadow, for you know each one by name – including your friends at Church Street:

  • One grateful for a weekend off from work
  • Thanksgiving: Two recovered from Covid
  • One thankful for appointment for second vaccine
  • Gratitude: Mother steadily improving from surgery
  • Healing of adult son who entered a detox program
  • Elderly father healing from broken hip
  • Solace for member mourning death of a beloved brother
  • Guidance and wisdom for our President and our nation’s leaders
  • Continued prayers for three recovering from serious heart issues
  • Healing: Family of four positive for Covid
  • Courage, guidance, and healing: A cousin’s infant diagnosed with a brain tumor and began chemo last week
  • Wisdom and courage: A mother weighed down by responsibilities related to her son’s addiction
  • Healing for husband in deep depression
  • For wider distribution of virus vaccine
  • Continued prayers: One enduring chemo
  • Strength for two weary caregivers
  • Comfort for one whose mother died of cancer and Covid
  • For insurance company to approve chemotherapy for one in great need
  • Cousin recovering from major stroke

 

Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes;

Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;

Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;

In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

 

Abiding One, draw all our silent longings and spoken prayers together this night, for even in our doubts, we trust in your unfailing love to keep us safe in slumber. And tomorrow, lead us into your holy wisdom, that we might live as Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord 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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Evening Prayer – January 21

BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE

Prayers for the Church Street Family

January 21, 2021

Rev. Dr. Jan Buxton Wade

O God of the Sun and the Shade, the darkness works its way through the crooked tree limbs all around, leaving us with only luminous outlines of the blessed light that has covered us this day. But darkness brings blessings of its own: a chance to slow down, an opportunity to go deeper, an invitation to take stock. We admit that we rushed by you today, Lord, when you appeared in so many places. But now in the quiet hours, we recall the kind word spoken, the gesture of support, evidences of your grace, especially . . . . . . . . . . . . The joys that have lightened our path came from your open hand. And tomorrow, clothe us with more clarity, that we may detect your miracles at work in our very midst. To you be all praise!

Come to us now, Lord, as we are veiled in the memories of our missteps: the coarse words that came from our lesser selves, the unwarranted sarcasm, misplaced humor, our prideful thoughts, and especially . . . . . . . . . . Scrub away all that has tarnished our witness, we pray, and rinse us with that bracing water of forgiveness, that we may be cleansed and ready to join you in service.

Consoling Companion, we remember those for whom the evening hours are long and fear-filled: those lying in hospital beds uncertain of their diagnosis, those waiting for the phone call revealing an outcome from surgery, those without employment who can only stare into emptiness, others whose physical pain prevents their eyes from closing. In truth, we all wait for something, but give rest and consolation, we pray, to our brothers and sisters whose souls are depleted.  Use us, we pray, to lift them up both in prayer and deed, till they are assured that your Spirit waits with them.

And Tender Spirit that you are, touch each of these souls who bring their joys and their deepest hurts to you this night.  May each feel the prayers that are offered as well as your breath of love:

  • Gratitude: Son in Oregon healed from Covid
  • Thankful brother made it through emergency surgery last night
  • Member thankful for 98th birthday
  • Member grateful for her virus vaccination
  • Thanksgiving that business is picking up
  • Gratitude that healthcare workers are receiving vaccinations
  • Praises for our church’s worship and ministries
  • Two mothers dealing with sons with addictions
  • Healing of older sister, recovering from Covid
  • Elderly father healing from broken hip
  • Healing for one with serious heart issues
  • Wisdom and insight for our President and Cabinet
  • Prayers for outgoing President and team members
  • Member who is depressed
  • Healing of husband with heart ailment
  • Young mother with Covid, for healing
  • For vulnerable populations to receive vaccine
  • Cousin recovering from major stroke
  • Healing for brother hospitalized (Covid)
  • 62-yr-old friend, for cancer remission
  • Exhausted caregiver, for help to arrive
  • Strength for one enduring chemo side effects
  • Recovery for husband with Covid

Take all our prayers, spoken and unspoken, and keep them in your bin of hope. May we rest now in the darkness, assured that the light has not gone out, for it keeps vigil in our hearts. And whatever tomorrow brings, we know we will be robed once again in the Light of Christ, our Lord, 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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