"Take Me Into a New Year"

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not     cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit." (Psalm 51:10-12) 

 

I opened my fresh, clean journal this morning and found something not-so-fresh-and-clean on the first page. I had long forgotten that on Ash Wednesday, 2012, I removed the ashes from my forehead with my index finger and placed the ashen cross on this first page. The brand new journal was closed on that evening so many months ago. Certainly by the end of the year, I would become somewhat 'sooty' and the new year would bring with it a great desire for newness. It seems that when opening a new journal on a new year and being startled by such a reminder as an ashen cross, the prayers from Psalm 51:10-12 "Create in me a clean heart, O God....." should be a starting place for 2013 ... both prayed and written just below this smudge of a cross.

I realize that the church year began earlier, but still there seems to be a desire within all of us to begin fresh, to do better, to love more, to pastor with more compassion, to read God's Word with fresh eyes and heart and to be Christ's hands, feet, heart and voice in new ways. That is my prayer for you in 2013 ... and for me as well.

And so, as I remember you all in my prayers this morning, I will share a prayer that fell into my e-mail yesterday. I really do love the first words ... "TAKE ME INTO A NEW YEAR, Gracious God." It asks us to reach out and grasp God tightly in all of the newness, whatever that newness might be.

For you all ... Blessings, strength, courage, God's peace, endurance, faithfulness and love in 2013...

(Prayer)

TAKE ME INTO A NEW YEAR, Gracious God. Help me to continue looking for meaning, seeking peace, praying for light, dancing for joy, working for justice, and singing your praise. I go into the new year filled with expectations, a touch of worry, and a bundle of hope. I do not journey into the new year alone but with you as my guide, with a commitment to my disciplines, with a community of family, friends, and faith. Take me into the new year, Creator of beauty and wonder. Bless me with the companionship of Jesus, and gift me with the guidance and power of the Spirit. Amen.

(prayer by Larry James Peacock from 'Openings: A Daybook of Saints, Psalms, and Prayer')