Welcome
Hello Everyone,
Thanks for joining us for St. Paul’s online worship
for January 3, 2021, the first Sunday of the Year.
I trust you had a good Christmas.
Call to Worship
This is the day of new beginnings.
Today, God dwells with us.
Today, all things are made new.
Opening Prayer
God of majesty and mystery,
we come to you this day in wonder.
As the year opens before us, we wonder what it holds in store.
We wonder where you will lead us,
how you will call us to follow in the days ahead.
Your purposes are beyond our comprehension, O God,
but your presence is always with us.
So we offer you our trust for the days ahead,
as we seek to follow in the footsteps of Christ, our newborn King.
God of light and life,
you have come to us in Christ Jesus to open a path to new life.
Yet once the New Year has begun,
we long for things to get back to normal, especially this year.
We confess that our resolutions for change often don’t last long.
Old habits draw us back to familiar ways.
It is so hard for us to make a new beginning, O God,
even with the best of intentions.
Forgive us, O God, and renew our determination
to know you more clearly,
love you more dearly,
and follow you more nearly, day by day.
Remind us as St. Paul’s does that
If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.
Everything old has passed away; See, everything has become new!
Enable us to make a new start as we gather for worship
on this first Sunday of the New Year.
All praise, glory and honor be to You.
Amen.
Hymn: Crown Him with many crowns
Prayer for Understanding
Almighty and Eternal God, you make all things new in Christ. Guide and direct our progress toward a deeper faith and broader witness in you in 2021 as we ponder and apply your Words of Life to our lives. In Christ we pray. Amen.
Scripture Texts for New Year’s Day
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-15
Psalm 139:1-3, Psalm 139:23-24
Revelation 21:1-6a
Message: Moving into a New Year
Happy New Year Everyone, I think we are all ready for a new year and ready to move beyond the crazy roller year we call 2020.
Before barge into 2021, which sounds so good to say, I want us to pause and reflect on the year past. I think there is a lot of wisdom in doing this. I would hate for the important moments, the important lessons learned, and important pushes of the Holy Spirit to be left behind.
I read once of a family that greets the new year by gathering together before midnight around the fireplace with the family calendar. They go month by month looking at the events of the past year remembering the joys and the sorrows. They laugh, celebrate, and remember the birthdays and the accomplishments.
They also remember the painful and sorrowful times which in discussing them make them a little easier to accept. After each month has been reviewed and prayers have been said, the month is thrown into the fire. Month by month they remember God’s faithfulness to them in joy and in sorrow.
They close their year by taking a new calendar and hanging it on the wall. They again pray together and ask God to guide them as they begin a new year. Their review of the past year renews their hope for the coming year.
That to me sounds something that the Preacher of Ecclesiastes would have approved of doing.
One could review 2020 by going each month through the 14 pairs of moments that Preacher lists for us.
For example, when I read the Preacher’s list of paired positive and negative moments, one cannot, but respond emotionally to “A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.” (Eccl. 3.5b). This has been one of the hardest parts for so many of us during this pandemic. One of things that I hear people looking forward to when we are safely able to do so is to hug people who they have not touched in so many months. We have missed the physical connection with each other.
It would be interesting to have a person close to you to do the same and then compare your responses.
The Preacher’s poetic reflections on the moments of our lives are concluded with the Preacher’s affirmation that God is ultimately in control of our times and God in God’s own way makes the times fit into God’s plans for us.
John in his Revelation affirms that Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the One who is bringing about God’s plans for our world. Jesus is the One who makes all things new.
Even a difficult year like 2020 taught us the things that we have needed to learn about relationship with God, ourselves, each other, and our world.
David in Psalm 139 affirms God’s complete knowledge of him, which moves David to ask God to search out his thoughts, emotions, motives, to learn what he needs to let go of and what he needs to embrace to be faithful to God.
400 years ago, a Roman Catholic Priest named Ignatius of Loyola crafted a way of prayer that helped his fellow priests to reflect back upon their day and their life in terms of how one experienced God. He developed a prayer called, The Daily Examen. It is both a challenging and comforting way to trace the movement of God in one’s life. I share it with you today as we reflect upon the year past and look forward to a new year.
The Prayer begins by focusing on God with a Centering Prayer like this:
God, I come into your presence.
Father, I long for more of you.
Jesus, I place you at the center.
Holy Spirit, come and fill this time of remembering, reflecting, reviewing and rejoicing with your presence.
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.
See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Help me to be fully present here, to your word, to one another, and to the world you love. Amen.
The Prayer then moves to Thanksgiving
What am I especially grateful for in the past year?
• The gift of another day…
• The love and support I have received…
• The courage I found in the midst of a difficult year…
• An event or events that took place this year that were meaningful
• Something I learned about myself, my faith, my relationships …
• Something I learned I could live without and something I learned I could not live without
The Prayer then moves Review the year.
• When did I feel joy in being faithful to God this year?
• What troubled me this year? When did I feel anxiety? Fear? Loss?
• What has challenged me year? Which challenges did I face, resolve, overcome? Which ones did I shy away from?
• Where and when did I feel close to God? When did I feel furthest away from God?
• Where did I grow in my faith? Where did I grow in my witness to Christ? When didn’t grow in my faith and witness? What was the difference between those responses?
• Looking back, do see where God was active in your life when you didn’t know it at the time?
In faithfulness to Christ we Look Ahead to Respond to the Spirit moving within us.
• In light of my review, what is my response to the God of my life?
• As I look ahead, what comes to mind? Where do I feel God moving, disturbing, pushing me as I start 2021?
• What is one aspect of faithfulness to Christ and I want to see made stronger in 2021?
• What is one thing I read and reflect upon to deepen my faith and witness?
• What is one area of my witness to Christ that I want to grow in?
• What is one good thing I want to see happen in 2021 and how will help to make it happen?
• Who is one person I need to connect with and support in concrete ways in 2021?
• Imagine what challenges and blessings might await you in the coming year.
• Think of important relationships, major (and minor) decisions to be made,
o skills to learn,
o habits to build,
o healing to seek,
o good work to accomplish.
Make a simple list of highlights—matters that you expect to take prominence in your life in the new year.
Bring them to God now, and ask for the graces you will need to move into the new year.
Spend some time of submitting your life to God in the new year in a spirit of humility, honesty and a desire to honor God as all faithful followers of Christ are asked to do.
More information about the Prayer of Examen can be found online.
Our God who knows our past, present and future invites us to spend time courageously and faithfully reflecting with Him about year the gone by as we move into a new year.
May we honor God at the beginning of this new year by doing that.
To Father Son and Spirit, be all glory, honor and praise. Amen.
Let us come before God in prayer, shall we pray.
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession
God of all time and space, as we gather in prayer,
we recognize that our lives are but small details
in the vast expanse of your universe.
So we thank you for attending to the details of our lives.
We thank you for the year just past,
for walking through the hard days and uncertainties with us,
and for the gifts of encouragement and friendship that cheered us.
We give thanks for accomplishments in ministry and mission,
for generosity offered to those in need,
and for new possibilities explored in online worship, education and outreach.
As your spirit guides us into the future,
Our hearts kneel before you, O God;
Receive our humble prayers.
The year just ending has held so many sorrows and challenges for so many.
We remember dear ones who have died
and pray for those who look ahead in loneliness or sadness…
We pray for those who have faced challenges in health,
in their families or at work…
Support each one who needs you close by.
Our hearts kneel before you, O God;
Receive our humble prayers.
God of light and love,
As we face the year ahead, we are aware that much around us is still uncertain.
We seek your strength and guidance in each challenge we will face.
Draw near to each one who must confront illness, loss or changing circumstances.
Guide those for whom new opportunities appear and choices must be made…
Our hearts kneel before you, O God;
Receive our humble prayers.
God of community and commitment,
We pray for wisdom and courage in the year ahead.
Strengthen us as a congregation to be a committed witness to your love.
Help us reach out to our community in creative ways,
and make us effective citizens in these challenging times.
Guide leaders in our nation and in nations around the world
so that justice and peace may prevail,
resources to meet health and hunger needs be shared,
and understanding and respect grow among divided peoples.
Receive our humble prayers and encourage us onward
in the name of Jesus our Christ who taught us to pray, saying…
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.
Hymn: One more step along the world I go
Benediction (Eccl 3 & Rev 21)
Go forth, rejoicing that our God is with us
in all times and places,
and in all the seasons of our lives.
Go forth into the new year,
trusting in God’s promises.
And may God, the Alpha and the Omega,
be with you always.