From: Deborah McDurmond <deborah@ckt.net>
Subject:      Blessings for the New Year

As we have been blessed in each year past,
    O God of beginnings and of endings,
We trust in you as we begin this new year.
Grant that we may have the vision to see
    the blessings in our joy
    in our sorrow
    in our triumphs
    in our failures
    in our struggles along the way.
Grant that we may know your abiding presence in all
    that we do
    that we are
    that we see
    that we hear.
Grant that we may know your love
    in every cell of our beings
    in every new life
    in every death
    in resurrection.
Grant that we may share in our abundant blessings
    of possessions
    of faith
    of hope
    of opportunities to minister with love in your name.
May all of this be true in this new year, O God of grace,
    for your glory
    from the power of your love
    for the joy of real life
    for all peoples
    according to your great mercy.
May we live in the life of our true Mommy and Daddy, who gave us 
life
    in the name of Jesus, our brother, friend, example, and redeemer
    in the power of the Holy Spirit, our guardian and guide, our 
comfort and strength.
Amen.

Love, joy, and peace,
Deborah McDurmond deborah@ckt.net
UMC Pastor in Uniontown & Redfield, Kansas
Student, OSL chapter prior, coordinator for covenant discipleship
groups at Saint Paul School of Theology
wife of Lonnie