I’m reminded of words quoted by King George VI in a Christmas Broadcast in 1939:
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’
And he replied:
‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God,
that shall be to you better than light
and safer than a known way.’
Minnie Louse Haskins. Found on a prayer card.
The challenge is for us to place our hand in the hand of our God and be open to his leading.
To quote a well-worn cliché,
‘We may not know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future.’
With this in mind, Methodists start the New Year with a ‘Covenant Service’ to thank God for his help, guidance and provision in the past, and to express our intention to follow Christ in the year ahead. So, I invite you to attend one of our two Covenant services @MCHW (Sunday 4th January 11.00am or 6.30pm), to make your own ‘Christian Resolution’ and be challenged by the searching ‘Covenant Prayer’:
‘I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for you or laid aside for you, exalted for you or brought low for you; let me be full, let me be empty; let me have all things, let me have nothing; I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal …’
© 1999: Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes
A New Year prayer:
God of the ages,
you are before us,
with us
and beyond us.
Lead us, we pray,
from winter to spring;
from night to day;
from darkness to light;
from slumber to consciousness;
from an old year to a new beginning.
May your renewing Spirit burst forth into our lives
with forgiveness, fresh vision, and blesséd hope;
through the resurrecting power of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
© Rev. Anthony D. Miles January 2004 www.tonymiles.com
Every blessing for 2015!
Tony Miles
2 Comments
Wes Hampton
January 1, 2015 at 3:10 amOops! Morning service at 11am, not many takers for 1am I suspect.
Tony
January 1, 2015 at 3:38 amOkay – typo now corrected! ????