Happy new year, Sterling Church family! 2022 brought many changes for us, but we are ending the year strong – together as One Body!
Thank you Lord for this past year and may your blessings and grace be upon us in 2023. May our worship bring us closer to you, our service make us stronger in our faith, and may we rejoice in all things, knowing you are in control. This beautiful piece by Howard Thurmon (a theologian and author, and a favorite of Pastor Marcela!) can be read as a prayer or a devotional and is a wonderful reflection to begin our year:
Through the Coming Year
by Howard Thurman.
Grant that I may pass through the coming year with a faithful heart.
There will be much to test me and make weak my strength before the year ends. In my confusion I shall often say the word that is not true and do the thing of which I am ashamed. There will be errors in the mind and great inaccuracies of judgment…
In seeking the light, I shall again and again find myself walking in the darkness.
I shall mistake my light for Your light and I shall drink from the responsibility of the choice I make. Nevertheless, grant that I may pass through the coming year with a faithful heart. May I never give the approval of my heart to error, to falseness, to vanity, to sin. Though my days be marked with failures, stumblings, fallings, let my spirit be free so that You may take it and redeem my moments in all the ways my needs reveal. Give me the quiet assurance of Your Love and Presence.
Grant that I may pass through the coming year with a faithful heart.
For some SUMC coloring pages based on this prayer, click here!
For some ideas of how you can continue celebrating Christmas in the next week, check out this article on the 12 days of Christmas!
If this season can’t pass quickly enough, check out this article for ways to take care of your body and mind.