The Christmas presents have been unwrapped, the feast eaten, and a new year commences. What happens? We change calendars and perhaps start exercising and eating healthy. In addition, by the time the champagne cork has popped, most of the Christmas decorations have been taken down. The Babe has only just come to bring Light to the world, and all we see are Christmas tree and outside light displays disappearing, quickly packed and stored. Did the Christmas message get put away too?
As we turn the page to a new year, do we still carry in our hearts the real Gift we received at Christmas, or does Jesus return to Sunday worship and the pages of the Bible? Instead of making resolutions, as Christians, we are called to transformation. To become like Christ. To love God and people. To be joyful. It's a lifetime journey, maturing in the faith. It's about believing and acting on the belief. It's about making things better for other people. So let's keep that "Goodwill toward all people" attitude year round.
Below are a prayer and a benediction for the new year. I hope they will be as meaningful to you as they are to me. Wishing you a blessed 2012.
Below are a prayer and a benediction for the new year. I hope they will be as meaningful to you as they are to me. Wishing you a blessed 2012.
12/28/2011 1:30 PM 
O God of infinite creativity . . .
At the beginning of this New Year – winter for so many – the rich brown earth is even now preparing to burst forth with a spring of possibilities and new life.
Though the human eye cannot see it, you continue to bless the earth with new beginnings.
We praise you!
Bless us with new beginnings, we pray.
Where we have lost sight of your Reign breaking in – even now at hand –
Renew our vision.
Where we have faltered in reaching out to our neighbor in love, missing the moment to extend a hand of wholeness,
Renew our courage.
Where we have allowed cynicism to dry our bones and sinews,
Renew our hope.
At this beginning of a New Year, dear God, our arms are still warm from cradling the Babe of Bethlehem.
Help us to keep that memory strong.
Strengthen our arms to welcome your many children into communities of love.
Prepare our hearts to burst forth with a spring of possibilities and new life.
Stir us to be and share your love with the same vulnerability, the same humble expectation that brought you into the world in person.
Help us, your church, your disciples, to be harbingers of your reign of justice and of peace fully emerged.
O God of infinite creativity, at the beginning of this New Year, we know that you are about to do a new thing. Help us to perceive it. And to join in.
In the name of Jesus, your greatest new beginning, we pray.
AMEN
The following is A New Year's Benediction
Devotional writing by Roy Lessin, DaySpring, from his blog: Meet Me In The Meadow.
May the coming year be one of increased riches of grace—hearing His voice more clearly, knowing His heart more deeply, resting in His love more fully, trusting His care more completely, walking His pathway more peacefully, knowing His presence more intimately, blessed by His goodness more abundantly.
And in all things, may you know the shalom peace of God—encouraging you to move forward, empowering you to boldly take each step, greeting you as you turn a new corner, calming your heartbeat as you walk through dark valleys, softening each footstep as you climb rugged mountains, and increasing your courage as you follow your Shepherd wherever He leads.
You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the wilderness become a lush pasture, and the hillsides blossom with joy. Psalm 65:11-12 NLT
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