Episode 12: A Sabbath Prayer for the New Year

You’re listening to episode 12 of the simply Sabbath podcast.

When we arrive at the end of the work week, there is a beautiful opportunity to welcome the Sabbath and the rest it brings for ourselves and our family. And while it is a beautiful opportunity, it does not come by without intention. I see you and the work you do to usher in this day of rest. You make sure the home is clean, the meals are prepped, and the activities you’ll do together as a family planned. You work with purpose the other six days in anticipation of the seventh.

Before you begin your rhythm of Sabbath welcome, the next few minutes are for you. It is an acknowledgement of the good and loving work you are doing in the various roles you have the responsibility to steward throughout the week. It is a reminder that you are not alone in this desire to live counter culturally. And it is an encouragement to continue seeking to rest with Jesus. So stop what you’re doing. Close your eyes and listen to this, my prayer of blessing over you.

Today is the last day of the year 2021. It’s kind of fun that I get to record a podcast episode for you today on the very last day of the year. And especially when it’s an episode focused on prayer and focused on helping you welcome in the Sabbath. This weekend we not only welcome in the Sabbath, we welcome in a brand new year.

With the new year comes new possibilities, new opportunities, new everything. It feels like a chance to move forward. In some areas of our lives, to start over to begin again. But before we do all that, and I think that is important and there is something fun and exciting about exploring new possibilities in the new year. As you move from one year to the next, I hope you take a moment to pause and reflect on the ways in which God has engaged your life this past year. Do you remember the ways in which he was faithful? Provisional? Steadfast? Loving, kind, and gracious. I think that when we take a moment to remember, we set ourselves on a firmer foundation that allows us to build something in the future. And so I hope you do that this weekend. It is Sabbath and I would encourage you to make sure you rest this weekend, but as you do, maybe take some time and sit with God and ask him to help you to remember this past year. Because I think that when we remember what God has done, it gives us a renewed hope for what he will do.

This year might not have been a very good one for you. Or perhaps you found your footing again after pretty rough year before that, but regardless, you still need to remember. You still need to look back because chances are, there’s something you need to know before you can move forward.

And so my hope is as I pray for us in the next few minutes that you and I would pause and not rush into the new year, but rather enter it with a renewed sense of peace and faith in the one who is committed to keeping his promises.

So please join me in praying as we welcome the new year.

Jesus, help us pause for a moment and remember. Remember the ways this past year that you provided both what we needed and what we didn’t even know we needed. The ways in which you showed us your love and kindness when we least deserved it. The ways in which we experienced the deep peace of your presence.

Help us to look back with your eyes, not eyes of shame or guilt or remorse, but your grace-filled eyes. May we reflect on the moments where you were faithful to your promises in our lives, the moments where you drew close and protected, led and instructed us. The moments where you welcomed us to join the work of the kingdom and the moments where you invited us to rest with you.

As we stand on the man-made line that draws a close to one year and launches the next. Let us remember that you are limitless, timeless, eternal. You move according to a calendar that is different. One only you know the rhythm of. But we rest in this truth: you are the same yesterday today and tomorrow. May we rest our worries and fears on this side of that line and step into the new year, trusting fully in your sovereignty and provision and not in our own doing.

May we rest our dreams and goals in your arms this new year, trusting fully your ability to bring them to pass and not our own doing.

May the next 365 days bring reconnection with you and with others in meaningful ways.

Please, bless the work that we do in the new year. Please, bless the work we leave undone.

And please, bless the rest we enter into. Amen.