Monday Morning Offering: January 1, 2018

It's a new beginning, Lord, 
a new day, a new month, a new year:

and I know that new beginnings come in different ways
for different folks...

• So, I offer a prayer today for all who've longed

and hungered and waited for a new year,

eager to leave the past year behind…

I pray for those who are more than ready
to move beyond the hurt and disappointments,
the grief and the burdens of 2017...

I offer a prayer for those who desire a new beginning,

asking for a new grace

to look afresh at everyone and everything…

I pray you give the grace we need, Lord,

to begin again, 
to trust again, 
to try again,

to hope again
in you 
and in your love for us…

• I offer a prayer this morning for those who are stuck, Lord,

for those who’ve lost the energy, the courage, the desire
to look ahead to a new beginning...

I pray for those who’ve lost a sense of

when one day ends and another begins...

I pray for those so tired of yesterday

they’ve lost a taste for tomorrow…

I pray you give the grace we need, Lord,

to begin again, 
to trust again, 
to try again,

to hope again
in you 
and in your love for us…

• And I offer a prayer, Lord, for those too tired
to notice the beauty of a rising sun,
the solace of a silvery moon…

I pray for those weighed down by worries, fears and problems,
burdened by too much work

- with too little time to do it…

I pray for those whose days and nights run together,
keeping them from rest and relaxation...

I pray you give the grace we need, Lord,

to begin again, 
to trust again, 
to try again,

to hope again
in you 
and in your love for us…

• And I offer a prayer today, Lord, for those who miss

the gentle ways you hold us when we’re weary,

strengthen us when we’re weak
and carry us from day to day...

I pray for those who need to see
how faithfully you walk with us: 
each hour, day and week through which we pass…

I pray for those who long for your healing
of the year we leave behind
and for your peace in the year we've just begun... 

I pray you give the grace we need, Lord,

to begin again, 
to trust again, 
to try again,

to hope again
in you 
and in your love for us…

• Send your Spirit, Lord,
to open our minds and hearts

to all you'll offer us in the year ahead...

May this truly be a year of grace:

may your mercy be our healing 
and your healing be our hope…

I pray you give the grace we need, Lord,

to begin again, 
to trust again, 
to try again,

to hope again
in you 
and in your love for us…

Amen.


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