Together on the Journey:
A Weekly Blog 

Happy New Year’s Eve, everyone! Yes, you read that correctly. This coming Sunday, the last Sunday after Pentecost or the Reign of Christ, is the last Sunday of the church year. The following Sunday we enter into the new church year and the season of Advent, where we will walk together towards the mystery of Christmas.

I don’t know about you, but the change in the year always makes me look back and reflect. This year, I’m reflecting on coming to St. George’s in September, and getting to know this wonderful community.

And I’m wondering what you are reflecting on as you look back over your year. Maybe there is some significant milestone that you accomplished this year. Maybe this past year was wonderfully exciting, or possibly rather boring. Maybe you’d prefer not to look back on this year at all.

I want to leave you with a prayer and reflection, and I invite you to ponder these questions this week as we move ever closer to the new year:

We come before God at the end of the year, conscious of many memories, thoughts, and feelings. We look back at times bathed in sunlight, and other times cast in shadow. We see faces and places, times and seasons, love and loss.

What gave us the most pleasure this year?

What do we want to put behind us?

Gracious God, this last year has been well filled. Thank you for your quiet, solid presence through every part of it, rejoicing with us, weeping with us, loving, persuading, nudging, comforting.

As the year tips over, we look down the slope into the new year with both eagerness and anxiety. This year could hold so much that would be wonderful, but we’re never more than a phone call or email away from a crisis. At the birth of the year, we pray for hope.

What do we most long for this year?

What do we intend to do differently this year?

Gracious God, you hold the coming year in the palm of your hand, not to control but to cherish. You promise that your love will be inexhaustible, and that you’ll work at full stretch for our well-being. Thank you for those good promises to remember and claim afresh each day.

And for the world around us, we hold our breath. So much to desire, so much to fear. But the better way is surely this: so much to pray for, so much to work for.

What places are in most need of peace and hope?

What world leaders are most in need of our prayers?

Gracious God, it is your will to hold together the nations of the earth in a single peace. Let the imprint of your love be seen in every troubled country. Let the earth breathe more freely at the end of the coming year. And may we have made our own contribution to serve and observe God’s creation.

God of this year, we give you our faith, and our hunger for the Kingdom. Amen.

(adapted from the intercession ‘New Year’ in The Second Intercessions Handbook by John Pritchard)