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A Prayer for the New Year

As we leave 2020 behind and enter the new year, I am very aware of the grief, loss, loneliness and struggle this past year has brought to so many people. Like all of us, I hope that 2021 will be better. I look forward in hope to a curtailing of this pandemic and the effective roll-out of the vaccines; I long for more consistent and compassionate political leadership, and for meaningful in-roads to tackling our global issues of prejudice, social inequalities, abuse and violence, climate change and the exploitation of our environment.

I recognise, though, that I cannot change any of this myself and that the only thing (person) I can change is me.

So, with that in mind, this is my prayer for the new year (with thanks to Pádraig Ó Tuama and Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community):

I begin this year with trust and hope:

Honouring this life that God has given

With all its potentials and possibilities;

Knowing I am created for loving encounter;

Knowing the year can hold love, joy, healing and forgiveness;

Beauty, truth and goodness.

I hold – but hold lightly – my hopes, plans and expectations.

I lay aside my need for affirmation and acclaim;

For power and control;

For comfort and security.

I make room for the unexpected –

May I find wisdom and life in the unexpected.

Help me to respond graciously to disappointment;

To hold tenderly those I encounter;

To be fully present –

To you, to your creation, to my fellow creatures,

To each present moment.

I resolve to live life in its fulness;

To welcome the people who will be part of my year;

To greet God in ordinary and hidden moments;

To love the life I am given.

–

(and if I express it as a prayer, rather than a new year’s resolution, then I can blame God if I don’t quite get there!)

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Moving On: An ancient manifesto for a new world order

‘The signs of haunting are all around us. Conflict rages between groups and nations. The gap widens between the poor and the rich. So many are displaced, left out, or left behind. Due to our actions, even the future of the planet is threatened.

If we aren’t disturbed, then we haven’t been paying attention.

The time has come for us to be WOKE.

The system is broken, and we are that system. If we want change, it will have to begin with us – with our hearts and minds, our actions and our voices. Let’s imagine and make a whole new world.

A growing number of us have begun to wonder if the beatitudes might contain the keys to our liberation. These ancient sayings, spoken by Jesus, offer a nine statement manifesto for a new world order. Hidden in plain sight and so often ignored, even by those who call themselves followers, the nine beats offer a radical alternative to the broken system we’ve created. In them we hear the whispers of another world.’

(Mark Scandrette – The Ninefold Path).

As our country continues in some form of lockdown and social distancing, and just taking hesitant steps towards the easing of restrictions, we at Breathing Space sadly remain closed to the public.

We are, however, continuing our daily evening prayer – every Monday to Friday at 5.30pm.

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Finding a path through the wilderness

Over the next few weeks we are going to focus on the Beatitudes – those incredible, unsettling words of Jesus. We will be using some material from the Nine Beats Collective which we discovered at Greenbelt a few years ago and which bring the Beatitudes alive in a fresh way that is full of meaning for our world today – particularly as we dare to dream of a better world beyond the realities of our current situation.

As we enter into this rhythm, we encourage you to take a look at the material of The Ninefold Path, including some inspiring videos, reflections and suggestions for putting this way of life into practice.

And join us for our evening prayer, live at 5.30pm, or catch up later, on our Facebook page.

(you don’t need to have a Facebook account to join us, just click on the link).

We have made some tweaks to the liturgy we are using, drawing on material from the Corrymeela Community in Northern Ireland and from the New Zealand Prayer Book. We hope you find the refreshed words helpful and inspiring. You can download our liturgy from the resources section of our website.