Blessings of Time for the New Year

December 31, 2024 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

Lord, You who live outside of time,
and reside in the imperishable moment,
we ask Your blessing this New Year’s Day
upon Your gift to us of time

Bless our clocks and watches,
You who kindly direct us to observe the
passing of minutes and hours.
May they make us aware of the miracle
of each second of life we experience.

May these, our ticking servants
help us not to miss that which is important,
while You keep us from machine-like routine.
May we ever be free from being clock watchers
and instead become those who journey through time.

Bless our calendars,
these ordered lists of days, weeks and
months, of holidays, holydays, fasts and feasts—
all our special days of remembering.
May these servants, our calendars,

once reserved for the royal few,
for magi and pyramid priests,

now grace our homes and our lives.

May they remind us of birthdays and other gift-days,
as they teach us the secret that all life is meant
for celebration and contemplation.

Bless, Lord, this new year, each of its 365 days and nights.
Bless us with new moons and full moons.
Bless us with happy seasons and a long life.

Grant to us, Lord, the new year’s gift of a year of love. Amen.

Patmos Abbey—The Order of Saint Columba

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Psalm 39:4-7

Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.
Remind me that my days are numbered—
how fleeting my life is.
You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand.
My entire lifetime is just a moment to you;
at best, each of us is but a breath.

We are merely moving shadows,
and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.
We heap up wealth,
not knowing who will spend it.
And so, Lord, where do I put my hope?
My only hope is in you.

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a new beginning

January 3, 2024January 2, 2024 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

image by geralt via pixabay

Lord God, the saying,

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions”

reveals a deep Christian insight.

At the beginning of a new year,

many have nothing better to do than make a list of bad deeds

and resolve from then on to begin with better intentions,

believing that a good intention already means a new beginning.

Sometimes we believe that on our own we can make a new start

whenever we want.

But that is an evil illusion:

only You can make a new beginning with us whenever You please,

but we cannot make a new beginning with You.

Therefore, we cannot make a new beginning at all;

we can only pray for one.

When we are on our own and live by our own devices,

there is only the old, the past.

Only where You are can there be a new beginning.

We cannot command You to grant it:

we can only pray asking You for it.

And we can pray only when we realize that we cannot do anything,

that we have reached our limit,

that someone else must make that new beginning.

after Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1906 – 1945, German theologian and martyr

I Want to Love These Days With You

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Isaiah 43:18-19

Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.

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Be Thou My Vision

January 1, 2022December 31, 2021 / Eric Mathews / 1 Comment

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heav’n’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Dallán Forgaill, c. 560 – 640, translated by Eleanor Hull 1912

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Daniel 7:13-24

I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.

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Shine brightly, star of God

December 31, 2021December 30, 2023 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

i_{mage / Stern von Betlehem / wikimedia commons}

Shine brightly,

star of God,

and guide our wandering world

to where a prince of Peace is born.

Where children wish upon a star

or wise men scan the universe in hope

let your bright beams

surround their dreams

and guide their hesitating feet

to where a miracle is born.

Enable each of us

to make a New Year’s journey

leaving behind the prejudices and fears

of yester-year,

embracing a fresh openness

by which we welcome all world pilgrims

whose journeys end in worship and humility.

Be a sign today

of mercy and of love

like a rainbow in spring

or the bright summer sun,

and show us how our lives

can include the forgotten and forlorn,

the grieving and the hurt.

And we will offer

to our God

now seen and touched in straw-filled bed

the best gifts in the world:

our joy, our grief, our life.

David Jenkins, minister in the United Reformed Church UK

The Westminster Collection of Christian Prayers

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Matthew 2:10

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

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to live these days with you

December 31, 2020December 30, 2020 / Eric Mathews / 3 Comments

Surrounded by good powers, faithful and still,

wonderfully protected and comforted –

in this way I want to live these days with you

and go with you into a new year.

The old year still wants to torment our hearts;

the heavy burdens of evil days still hold us down.

O Lord, give our frightened souls

the salvation for which you created us.

And if you hand us the heavy cup, the bitter one,

of sorrow, filled to the highest brim,

then we take it thankfully, without trembling,

from your good and loving hand.

Yet if you want to give us joy once again

in this world and its sun’s bright light,

then we want to remember what has passed,

and then our life belongs fully to you.

Today, let the candles glow warm and bright

that you brought into our darkness,

and if it can be, bring us together again!

We know your light shines in the night.

When now the profound stillness spreads round us,

let us hear that full sound of the world

that widens invisibly all around us,

the high hymn of praise of all your children.

Wonderfully secured by good powers,

we confidently await what may come.

God is with us in the evening and the morning,

and most certainly in each new day.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1906 – 1945, German Lutheran theologian and martyr

I Want to Love These Days With You

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Psalm 90:12-16

Teach us to realize the brevity of life,
so that we may grow in wisdom.

O Lord, come back to us!
How long will you delay?
Take pity on your servants!
Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love,
so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives.
Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery!
Replace the evil years with good.
Let us, your servants, see you work again;
let our children see your glory.

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