Tag: New Year

A NEW YEAR’S DEVOTION FOR 2023

At our Community Luncheon in December, I gave a brief devotion for the coming New Year centered on the theme of getting out into life and living in the courage of Christ our Lord.

Because we can become so risk-averse in our lives, we can sometimes fall into not truly living life to the fullest. Days, weeks and years can slip away wasted on distancing from life, cutting off from life, and shutting in from life. All those wonderful (but risky) life opportunities can be utterly wasted and lost in time.

While it’s true that we all wish to add years to our life, it’s also much more important to add life to our years. So for my January 2023 article, I offer for your spiritual empowerment and encouragement the following Bible reading, poem and prayer that I shared at our final 2022 Community Luncheon…

A BIBLE READING FOR THE NEW YEAR:

“Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of a disciplined mind.” – [Second Timothy 1:4-7]

A POEM FOR THE NEW YEAR:

[Every Minute Someone Leaves this World by Marianne Baum]

Every minute someone leaves this world behind.

Age has nothing to do with it.

We are all in “the line” without knowing it.

We never know how many people are before us.

We cannot move to the back of the line.

We cannot step out of the line.

We cannot avoid the line.

So while we wait in line:

Make moments count.

Make priorities.

Make the time.

Make your gifts known.

Make a nobody feel like a somebody.

Make your voice heard.

Make the small things big.

Make someone smile.

Make the change.

Make love.

Make up.

Make peace.

Make sure to tell your people they are loved.

Make sure to have no regrets. Make sure you are ready.  

A PRAYER FOR THE NEW YEAR:  

Heavenly Father, you make all things new. By your Holy Spirit, remind and encourage us this year (and always) to live our life to the fullest in the faith and joy of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. For you did not give us a spirit of cowardice, O God, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of a disciplined mind. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

Happy New Year!!! Pastor Tim

AN ALL-INCLUSIVE PRAYER FOR 2021

Almighty and wonder-full God, we are thankful for your all-encompassing, all-pervading and eternal Presence.

Our thanks and praise belong to you alone, O God of all, because you are the One Source of all being and goodness. In you we live, move and have our being, and by your sovereign grace we receive salvation, wholeness and renewal.

We thank you for the birth, life, teachings, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ our Lord. We thank you for the redemptive suffering of Jesus, endured by him from the Garden of Gethsemane to the Cross of Golgotha (a suffering which exposed the total depravity of our sinful human condition every step of the way), and we thank you for Jesus’ sacrificial offering of himself for our everlasting atonement and reconciliation. Moreover, we thank and praise you for the empty tomb and ascension of Jesus which declare your Final Word of life, light and love eternal.

Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — you are in charge and you lead the way. You never leave us nor forsake us, and your steadfast love endures forever. Whether we live or die, we are yours. In this life and the next, we are secure in your hands.

By your sovereign grace and divine will, you call us, claim us and draw us to yourself. You lead us on paths we do not yet know. There is a tomorrow we cannot see, and there are bends in the road we cannot know. But we know you will faithfully lead us according to your plan and purpose, because you are the Faithful One.

By your amazing grace, we travel the journey of this life. By your grace, we keep our minds focused on you. By your grace, we live God-conscious lives, a daily relationship of moment-by-moment dialogue with you. By your grace, we trust in you, no matter what happens or doesn’t happen. And by your grace, we follow you and abide in you.

By your grace, what joy and peace you give to us!!!

And in response to your infinite grace and absolute love, we live lives of worship, prayer, Holy Scripture study, tenderheartedness, lovingkindness, faithfulness, justice, hospitality and charity.

O Lord God, we pray for the world, this diverse arena you have created to work out your infinite grace and purposes for us and all things. We know that destruction and rebirth are a part of your creative will for the natural world. We know that you are in all creation and all creation is in you. Help us to use times of crisis as opportunities for serving those in need and sharing your truth.

O God, we know that you establish, disestablish and reestablish your earthly community throughout the ages. Beginnings, endings and new beginnings all flow from your creative and redemptive activity. We pray that in times of adversity you will draw us closer to you all the more.

Help us to see your Unity in the diversity of our world, O God, and help us to see that we are all united in you through your Holy Spirit. Help us to see we are of One Love and One Heart in you.

O God, for your universal glory and for our eternal benefit, help us to see and understand all of this according to the faith, hope and love of your Living Word, Jesus Christ our Lord.

You are Love… You are Sovereign… You are True…

Wonder-full God, the great “I Am” of the Scriptures, we pray all these things in the saving name of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The grace and peace of Christ be with you all in 2021! Pastor Tim