A prayer for the New Year
All during Advent we began worship with a chant: "Whichever way you turn there is the face of God." Although those words come from the Quran, they resonate deeply with Jewish and Christian teaching. Here, as you enter the New Year, is the entire prayer by John Philip Newell.
Whichever way we turn, O God, there is your face
in the light of the moon and patterns of stars
in scarred mountain rifts and ancient groves
in mighty seas and creatures of the deep.
Whichever way we turn, O God, there is your face
in the light of eyes we love
in the salt of tears we have tasted
in weathered countenances east and west
in the soft skin glow of the child everywhere.
Whichever way we turn, O God, there is your face
there is your face
among us.
John Philip Newell,
Praying with the Earth
No Sunday Night Youth or Sunday SchoolHouse this week.