Happy New Year!
Happy New Year (a day late)! As I sit down to write, I’m full of thoughts from a year that was a total blessing, much like the years before it. Each year, I am able to remember things that didn’t go as planned and things that were happy surprises. This year, I became an uncle for the first time (on my side of the family). Elizabeth and I started the adoption process again (blessing and stressful, still very early in the process). I was ordained and had my first year of full-time ministry that didn’t feel like I was faking it. As I sit to write this, I’m also thankful to be part of a congregation that “Celebrated the Spirit” last Sunday, sharing how God was present in their lives and sat listening to our youth last night, sharing what they were thankful for and hoped for in the new year. All of these reflections are more than a mere musing for me. They are a moment to think about God’s presence and story with myself and also others.
In my devotional time, I have often turned to the Book of Common Prayer to help guide my daily worship. I often fail to use it every day as intended but pick it up as often as I can. There is a comfort in that others around the world have and still rely on it as a guide. A guide that considers the whole of our faith and builds a rhythm of daily worship. This year during my family’s Christmas break, I stumbled upon the book “Be Thou My Vision” by Jonathan Gibson. It is much like the Book of Common Prayer but designed by pulling several sources together for a once-a-day 31-day liturgy. I have chosen to use this devotional tool in 2025 and invite you to join me. The introduction of the book shares the details on how it works, but to help you decide if you would like to join me, it takes about 20 to 30 minutes of your time to work through the reading, prayer, and scripture each day. It is repetitive if you choose to use it as it will repeating it each month. However, the scripture reading isn’t. It encourages paring this book with a Bible in a year reading plan that it prompts you to read each day (I’m currently using M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan as included in the book). The repetitive components are spread across 31 days and help you internalize the truth of our faith.
What does this have to do with a new year? Well, I know many make resolutions related to their fitness and faith. I would like to take a moment and encourage anyone who struggles to see the blessing of 2024 or just wants to deepen their appreciation and relationship with God in 2025 that there are tools, resources, and people who want to do the same with them. We are all part of God’s family, and starting small habits today can lead to deeper faith tomorrow. I have shared links to the book I’m using below if you would like to join me. If you are joining me in using this devotional tool, would you let me know? I’d love to share in this experience together, checking in on your experience and sharing my own with you as we go along this year. Whether or not you join me in using the same book, I want to encourage you to make time with God a priority this year. I’d love to hear what devotional tools you are using also! My goal has long been to “Practice the presence of God” like Brother Lawrence. And we start in that direction by first prioritizing time with God, and much like a relationship with someone you love, the more time you spend with Him, the more He is on your mind and changing who you go about being.
Lord, lead us closer to you and help us to worship you with our entire lives in this new year. Amen
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