Many of you spoke or wrote to me about the prayer I offered in worship last Sunday, just days before the turning of the year. As it spoke to those who spoke to me, I hope that it may speak to others as well.

     – Bill

Will you pray with me now?

Spirit of Life and of Love, known by many names and by no name.

Spirit of what has been and of what is to come.

Spirit of this moment, which holds both memory and hope.

We gather as the calendar points to the ending of another year…another year of satisfaction and disappointment, movement forward and back, fulfillment and loss.

It has been a difficult year for many of us and a troubling year for most all of us.

This ending invites taking stock, suggests closing the books on what has been…

But life is not some grand ledger book.

The pluses and the minuses never seem quite to equal.

And though the calendar points to closure, we will carry many things with us into the New Year.

Responsibilities, many of them…and commitments…do not end. Yearnings do not cease. The edge of pain and loss may soften, but they do not disappear. 

Neither is our calling silenced. And we look forward to the many joys that also abide.

We carry much with us into the New Year…in memory if not in fact.

Yet what we carry does not completely define what will come. “The new year will be truly new.”

Spirit of Life, help us be present to this time…this time between.

The way forward always runs through this moment…the new flows out of the now.

Help us be present to what we carry but also help us bear the weight of the past lightly…so that there is room in our arms and in our hearts to welcome surprise and unexpected joy.

Help us enter the New Year aware and awake…so that our decisions of what to put down and what to take up can be made with intention and with clarity.

Intention is important.

But help us also enter the New Year aware and awake…so that we are open to moments of grace…so we do not let pass opportunities to forgive and be forgiven…so that we can know and share love and unleash its power in us and through us…

Help us enter the New Year aware and awake…so that we do not miss the living of our lives…

May that be so.

Amen

P.S. I will be taking sabbatical during the middle weeks of January as I normally do but returning in plenty of time for Seminary for a Day on January 24, where I hope to see many of you.

Blessings,

Bill