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Hello friends! This is the last litany I'll write in 2021! I'm sharing it now in case it might assist you in your plans for the next couple of weeks. I'll be going dark and resting from writing for a bit.

I have made this particular prayer public, so feel free to send it along to friends and colleagues. I also have available:

Litany for a New Year (from 2018)

Litany for New Year's Day (from 2016)

Thank you to all who have followed along this year, shared my prayers, jumped on my Patreon, and prayed along with me.

And to all you who are there in the everyday trenches of spiritual work and ministry, doing care and practicing presence: may you be blessed with wisdom, fresh energy and compassion, rest, and purpose. May every wound your soul sustained this past year be soothed and healed, and your confidence in the Commonwealth of Heaven strengthened.

God as we close another calendar year
And look toward a new one,
We remember that every day is a new day;
Not just New Year’s Day.

Every day we can choose fresh purpose (1),
Access fresh wisdom,
Practice gratitude for our gifts, blessings, and experiences,
Practice mercy and love toward ourselves and others (2).

Every day we can take an honest look at ourselves,
Assess our unhelpful habits and patterns,
Create new ones,
Ask for help.

Everyday we can shut out voices that tear us down,
And practice listening to the truth about ourselves:
We are beloved, accepted, encased in Divine Love.
We have access to everything we need (3).

We ask for strength in the coming year:
To continue growing in wisdom,
To continue our healing journey,
To continue our creative work,
To continue our self-care,
To continue awakening to truth and oneness,
To continue in generosity and serving our neighbors (4),
To continue the work of bringing heaven to earth.

Whatever happens this year, we know you are alive within us,
Your light is shared and burning in our hearts.
We know that life can be enjoyed (5),
And rest can be found.
We know each time our eyes open,
The mercies are new and the goodness is flowing (6).

Amen

Revelation 21:5
Ecclesiastes 3:13
Psalm 8:6
Matthew 25:36
Ecclesiastes 3:12
Psalm 8:1

I took a few days off this week . Then this morning was reminded of the hymn _How Can I Keep From Singing_. Here are the traditional lyrics (although Audrey Assad has a lovely expanded version). But this stanza catches me:

The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,
a fountain ever springing!
All things are mine since I am his!
How can I keep from singing?

These lyrics were already in my mind as I approached this week’s texts, and I see their echo and resonance in them. Particular places stand out in light of this idea:

Job in great suffering saying, “Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?" (Job 2:10).
The Psalmist “singing aloud a song of thanksgiving, and telling all your wondrous deeds” (Psalm 26:7).
The Psalmic prayer: “You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet…” (Psalm 8:6).
Christ, “whom GOD appointed heir of all things, through whom GOD also created the worlds” (Hebrews 1:2).
Christ’s words: “it is to such as these [little children] that the kingdom of God belongs” (Mark 10:14).

All things are mine since I am in Christ. All things are mine since I am part of God’s divine whole, my “true self, hidden with Christ in God.” All things are mine, since Christ is heir of all things and so, therefore am I. All things are mine because I am the little child to whom the kingdom belongs.

I am more and more convinced that the lesson here is to learn to live as though this is true. If I, as a person who claims follower-ship (followship, ha!) of Christ, believe this, then I cease to live in scarcity. I adopt a reality of Kin-dom abundance. And I, with even my small weight, shift the balance of power in the world by way of this non-grasping, generous, fulfilled posture.

God, How can we keep from singing?
How can we keep our voices from echoing gratitude and wonder,
Or our hands from creating beauty and art,
Once we have come awake to your goodness;
Which encompasses all things,
Folding us in amongst the bounty of Christ’s riches …

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