Pause for Prayer: SUNDAY January 1

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 pray today for all who've waited,
who've longed and hungered for a new year,

eager to see 2022 fade away

- which I'm fairly certain may be most of us...

I pray for those who are more than ready
to move beyond the hurt and disappointment,

the illness, fear and suffering,
the grief and burdens of the year just past...

I pray for those who desire a new beginning,

who pray for new grace to look afresh 

at everyone and everything…

I pray for the grace we all need, Lord,

to begin again, to trust again, to try again

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

I pray this morning for those who are stuck, Lord,

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 where one day ends and another begins...

I pray for those so tired of yesterday

they’ve lost a taste for tomorrow…

I pray for the grace we all need, Lord,

to begin again, to trust again, to try again

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

And I pray, Lord, for those too tired
to mark 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

and too little time to do it…

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

I pray for the grace we all need, Lord,

to begin again, to trust again, to try again

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

And I pray, Lord, for all who long 

for the gentle way you hold us when we’re weary:

I pray you strengthen us in our weakness
and carry us from day to day...

I pray for those who need to see
how faithfully you walk with us: 
day by day, week by week,
through every season, all year long...

I pray for those who wait your healing
of last year's loss and grief;
who wait the gift of your gentle presence,
who wait your peace in the year that's just begun... 

I pray for the grace we all need, Lord,

to begin again, to trust again, to try again

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

Send your Spirit upon us, Lord,
to open our minds and hearts

to all you'll offer in this new year, 2023...

May this truly be a year of grace:

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

Give us the grace we all need, Lord,

to begin again, to trust again, to try again

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

Amen. 

 

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