New Year

 

God of endings

God of beginnings

We bring you ourselves

We bring you our world

 

Lord in your mercy...

 

We pray (nations and situations should be changed as appropriate)

for the people of Syria as they seek freedom

for the people of Greece as they face austerity

for the people of Nigeria in the midst of conflict

for the people of Afghanistan seeking peace

for the people of Somalia living in chaos

for all the people of Britain as together we face the prospect of further uncertainty, hard choices and new dreams

 

Lord in your mercy...

 

God of endings

God of beginnings

We bring you ourselves

We bring you our world

 

We pray for our churches

(all appropriate churches should be mentioned here)

And we pray for all our sisters and brothers in the other churches in this place and all those who worship further afield

 

Fill us all with your Spirit that we may learn how to be Christ's witnesses

(these are written for a rural context and might be changing)

in these villages and these farms,

beside these rivers and under these mountains

in our shops

in our pubs and restaurants and hotels

in workplaces and community halls

in public buildings and private homes

 

Lord in your mercy...

 

God of endings

God of beginnings

We bring you ourselves

We bring you our world

 

Finally we come in quietness before you, remembering all that has gone before in 2011...

 

Pause

 

Thinking of all that is to come in 2012

 

Pause

 

And committing ourselves to you

God of the past

God of the future

God of each individual

God of the whole world

 

O Lord in your mercy...