Let our soul breathe hope
A reader of this blog/newsletter—a friend—recently recommended to me the book Praying with the Earth: A Prayerbook for Peace by John Philip Newell (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2011). For each day of the week, morning and evening, the book includes a “prayer of awareness,” a “prayer for the life of the world,” and a “prayer of blessing,” as well as scripture and prompts for meditation. On this Monday morning, December 31, one of the prayers of the day seems so fitting for the New Year that I want to share it with you on this New Year’s Eve day.
For the freshness of this new day
thanks be to you, O God.
For morning’s gift of clarity
its light like the first day’s dawn
thanks be to you.
In this newborn light
let us see afresh.
In this gateway onto what has never been before
let our soul breathe hope
for the earth
for the creatures
for the human family.
Let our soul breathe hope.
Blessings to each of you in 2019!
~~~
[Photo: some wood ready for a New Year’s fire.]