Happy New Year, dear friends. Here is a liturgy for all the beautiful things you will bring into being this year—both works of art and works of living.
by David O. Taylor
O Holy Trinity,
I offer to you all of my heart, mind, soul, and
strength this day. In your mercy, hear my
prayer, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
A MOMENT OF SILENCE IS KEPT.
O Father, you who are the Creator of all
things: I praise you this day and I place
myself before you in silence.
Speak, for your servant is listening.
A MOMENT OF SILENCE IS KEPT.
I praise you, O God, for being
the Source of Life,
the Architect of Creation,
the Originator of all good things
in Heaven and on Earth.
I praise you for making me
in your image.
I praise you for making me
fearfully and wonderfully so.
(GESTURING TO EACH PART OF YOUR BODY)
Bless now my hands and my feet,
my head and my heart,
my eyes and my ears,
my mouth and my nose.
(WITH HANDS OPENED IN SUPPLICATION)
Grant me fresh ideas, O God.
Fill me with new vigor.
Order my steps.
Bless my work, so that you may fulfill your
creative purposes in and through me.
I pray this in the name of the
Infinitely Imaginative One.
Amen.
A MOMENT OF SILENCE IS KEPT.
O Son of God, you who are the Word
made Flesh, I praise you this day.
I praise you for sanctifying the earth
in your Incarnation, confirming thereby the
goodness of the physical world of
wood and stone,
wind and water,
fire and flesh,
metal and matter.
(WITH HANDS OPENED IN A GESTURE OF SUPPLICATION)
Deliver me from fear, O Christ.
Save me from the hour of trial.
Rescue me from the pride of life.
Great Carpenter, teach me, guide me, aid me
in my work today.
I pray this so that I may become an agent of
your gracious and recreative purposes for this
world that you so love.
I pray this in the name of the One who is the
Icon and Beloved of God.
Amen.
A MOMENT OF SILENCE IS KEPT.
O Holy Spirit, you who are the Lord and
Giver of Life, I praise you this day.
I praise you for sustaining all things in being,
energizing them with vitality,
and ushering them to their future
and final state of glory.
(WITH HANDS OPENED IN A GESTURE OF SUPPLICATION)
Purify my soul, O Spirit.
Scour my heart.
Re-order my mind.
Strengthen my body.
I pray this so that I might be freed to be
playful in my creative labors today
as befits my status as a beloved child of God.
I pray this in the name of the One who
revives and restores me and will bring to
completion the good work that he so
lovingly began in me long ago.
May it be so, O Holy Trinity. Amen.
A FINAL MOMENT OF SILENCE IS KEPT BEFORE THE DAY’S CREATIVE LABORS ARE BEGUN.