O Eternal God, we who live in time, cry out to You at this turning of the year.

We ask for Your hand of care and protection over us- over our world, our country, our communities, our congregations, our families, and over our own hearts.

Give us a sense of both our smallness in this world and our preciousness in Your sight.

Grant us, we pray, the ability to see ourselves more fully and more truly.

Help us to submit our time and our service to one another out of our ultimate desire to submit our entire lives to Your will.

Help us to rise up each morning with a desire to serve You and with the intention to seek out and acknowledge the day’s opportunities as they come.

Extend to us humility that we require so as not to trust in our own understanding.

Let us be content to lean on Your perfect will and Your enduring word rather than on our own imperfect and limited vision.

Allow us such a measure of divine vision to see Your face in our neighbors, in our coworkers, and even in our enemies.

Grant that the name of “Christian” might be worn with a self-aware humility before the world rather than a self-righteous air of superiority.

May we who are called by Your name be always a beacon that draws seekers to You rather than a glare that blinds and wounds those who even now live in darkness.

Help us to remember that our desire is to be conformed to One who was poor that others might be made rich.

Let the mind be in us that so filled the mind of Christ.

As He left glory to live His uncommon life in a common place, let us be willing to leave our comforts and conveniences to serve those who struggle.

Send us, Lord, into our lives each day with the resolve to reflect the love and compassion of Christ to those who most desperately need it.

Help us to see people as Jesus saw them- not as endless statistics but as eternal souls.

May we not seek to build up kingdoms for ourselves, but to extend the offer of His kingdom in each interaction of our day.

Let us realize the value of our faithful witness to Your presence in our chaotic world.

Let the old, the young, the poor, the sick, the troubled, and the lonely be lifted up even as the powerful, the abusive, and the corrupt are humbled by Your truth.

Help our love be toward the lowly and despised and guard our hearts from the seductions of earthly power, human wisdom, and oversimplified judgments.

Strengthen us in You that we may seek to strengthen others in Your name.

Affirm our call to share good news and glad tidings in our despairing world.

In all we do, may we seek to be conformed to Jesus. In His holy name, amen.