This morning we met for the first time this year at the bandstand, due to the wintry weather of recent times. We kept it brief due to the freezing  temperature but had a special time, revisiting our annual tradition with the shepherd’s crook which is laden with luggage labels containing our prayers from last year.

We began thinking about the past year and the year ahead. For some of us, this year holds some daunting challenges to navigate, but for all of us, the future is unknown. God does not promise that things will be easy for us, but the gift of Immanuel is that we are assured that God is in it with us – that God is for us. And that is the good news we hold onto as we go into 2025.

We read 3 short selected passages from the Bible which were printed off for us to keep if wanted, as reminders for us into the coming year:

Isaiah 43

This is what God says…
“Forget about what’s happened;
    don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present.                                                                                                                              I’m about to do something brand-new.
    It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?

John 10

I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me.

 My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them real and eternal life. They are protected from the Destroyer for good. No one can steal them from out of my hand. 

Phil 4

^6-7 Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the centre of your life.

^8-9 Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

We then looked at our prayers from last year and burned them before writing our new ones and attaching them to the shepherd’s crook, trusting our Good Shepherd to keep them close…

Barbara had brought the same Philippians verses to share (!) and also Jesus’ warning that it is not what goes into our mouths that is the problem but what comes out of them – a reminder to be mindful of what we say and how we speak this year.

We shared bread and wine and then Fiona finished with a prayer found in the pocket of the assassinated French Algerian nun – Odette Provost:

Live today’s day. God gives it to you, it belongs to you. Live it in Him.

Tomorrow’s day belongs to God, it doesn’t belong to you. Do not impose today’s worry upon tomorrow. Tomorrow belongs to God. Hand it over to Him.

The present moment is a frail footbridge. If you weigh it down with yesterday’s regrets, tomorrow’s anxiety, the footbridge gives way and you lose your footing.

The past? God forgives it. The future? God gives it. Live today’s day in communion with Him.

Amen.