Through the Coming Year

Dear friends in Christ Jesus:

Happy New Year one and all. For a variety of reasons, it is almost unbelievable to me that 2024 is here. The start of a New Year is acknowledged by many of people as a time of reflection, gratitude, relief, disavowals, and resolutions. All of these have their place in the living of a meaningful life. Some of us engage more than one of these simultaneously. For example, reflection about our health and wellness might well be accompanied by disavowal of junk food and the resolve to engage in more physical activity.

In a similar matter people of Christian faith often commit to more regular practice of disciplines that shape us for a God-full life. These might include greater frequency of prayer, more reading of scripture, and increased service to and for our neighbors.

When I seek guidance and mentoring in deepening my prayer life I turn to The Reverend Howard Thurman. To that end I have been praying one of his prayers: “Through the Coming Year”. I commend it to you. Let’s breathe it together.

“Grant that I may pass through
the coming year with a faithful heart.
There will be much to test me and
make weak my strength before the year ends.
In my confusion I shall often say the word that is not true and do the thing of which I am ashamed.
There will be errors in the mind
and great inaccuracies of judgment...
In seeking the light,
I shall again and again find myself
walking in the darkness.
I shall mistake my light for Your light
and I shall drink from the responsibility of the choice I make.
Nevertheless, grant that I may pass through the coming year with a faithful heart.
May I never give the approval of my heart to error, to falseness, to vanity, to sin.
Though my days be marked
with failures, stumblings, fallings,
let my spirit be free
so that You may take it
and redeem my moments
in all the ways my needs reveal.
Give me the quiet assurance
of Your Love and Presence.
Grant that I may pass through
the coming year with a faithful heart.”

Praying with you and for you I am,

Yours in Christ Jesus,