Prayers 1 1 2012
*Welcome and Happy New Year!
*CCU Dinner, Sunday, Jan. 15, Far East, See Dick Wong for tickets
*Men’s Fellowship, Jan. 28, 9:00, Nelson Wong’s; session on planning the year’s events
*Replacement of carpets on the staircase and hallways begins on Monday until Friday; please try not to come into the church during the week to allow the floors to dry properly
*All-Church Leaders Meeting, Saturday, 8:30; begin with the new year when boards and committees meet to set meetings and elect chairpersons
*Welcome Pastor David Lee as our guest preacher for today
*Thanks for the Christmas Love Gift that the staff received last Sunday; we are very appreciative and thankful for your support and generosity
Prayer Concerns
*Alan Fong suffered a heart attack on Dec. 26; had a stent inserted to clear an artery that was 99% blocked; fortunate and will explore ways to strengthen his health
*Bill Chin will have surgery on Wednesday to close up the internal wound since it’s now healing properly and remove the wound vacuum; this is a good sign toward full recovery; pray for Flo too
Happy New Year—2012!
It’s the beginning of another year, 365 days to do God’s will!
Well, not exactly. Yes to doing God’s will. But the year is not 365 days. It’s 365 and one- quarter days. The length of the year is changing all the time. Things like the tidal drag, the solar wind, or even something startling like a massive earthquake that struck Japan in 2011 can change the length of our day, or our year!
Down through the centuries, there have been corrections once in a while—like an extra day every four year known as leap year. When the calendar was really messed up, Emperor Julius Caesar made the year 46 BCE 445 days long to get everything back on course!
But none of that matters, because really all we have is today! Today is the day we can serve God. Today is the day we try to make an impact on the suffering in God’s world. Today is the day we can work for the things that make for peace. Today is the day that we can come to God to confess our sins so that we can be restored in a right relationship with God again. Today is the day we can praise God! Let us resolve, in our prayers, in our offerings, in our service, in this service, to make a difference today.
Prayer of God’s People
God of eternal now, God of all times and this second, teach us patience, that we may dwell contently in the present moment where you dwell with us. In our worship this morning, share your wisdom with us so that we may appreciate the lessons taught by the past, both our story, and the story of your people. Grant us hope that we may look upon the approaching future as your home, as the place where your New Jerusalem will descend, and every tear will be wiped away.
While you, O God is self-sufficient and complete, yet you conceived the plan to create us, wholly other, capable of loving you or rejecting you, serving you or standing aside, glorifying you or ignoring you. What a wonder, and what power you have placed into our hands that we have often used this power to thwart your good will for our lives. Today we confess that we have done such things and seek your forgiveness. As people with sin, your redemptive plan to enter history in the birth of Jesus Christ is comforting the suffering, lifting the struggling, humbling the proud, healing the sick, catching the falling. Today we hear your voice and we wish to follow.
Into your hands we commit ourselves, God of time and all seasons that we are encouraged by the news that Bill Chin is finally getting better after a long season of ill-health. We thank you Lord for watching out for Alan Fong who suffered a heart attack and the swift remedy that was available to minimize any damages. We pray for …
We believe Lord, you have given our lives meaning and our actions weight. We believe that when we serve the least of these, we serve you. We believe that we will be held accountable for what we have done, and for what we have failed to do. We praise you for the significance you have given to us, who wear this flesh and body for only a passing time but yet wonderfully you have made us. We, who are dust, are only a little lower than the angels. And we believe that when the season is ripe, when time and times will cease and all will be made new, that we your church, adorned like a bride, will meet you at last in the New Jerusalem, where there is no more suffering, and no more parting.
We thank you, dear God from the depths of our hearts, for the beauty that surrounds us, the obstacles that challenge us, the redemption that liberates us. We are happy in this new year, grateful for the gift of this moment, and all moments. This we pray, offering this day, this year, this life, to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, born to us to proclaim peace on earth and goodwill to all who taught us to pray together, “Our Father…”
Benediction
Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born,
To bring us salvation from our sins.
This is the day of new beginnings.
Let us proclaim the goodness of God on that blessed Christmas morning.
Amen.