Welcome
Welcome, and Happy New Year! The turning of a new year invites us not only to look back and contemplate the paths that the Lord has led us on thus far but also to look forward with the expectation that the Lord will guide us into the future as we face new experiences, new work, new relationships, new opportunities and the possibility to be and to become.
I’ve compiled a few passages of scripture on this occasion that invite us to reflect on the Lord’s work past, present, and future, and I’ve titled this compilation “A Call to Worship for a New Year.” Let’s read responsively as we allow the Word of God to call our hearts to worship.
Call to Worship for a New Year
Leader:
Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting.
(CONGREGATION STANDS)
ALL:
Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. You are the LORD, you alone.
Leader:
Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
ALL:
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Leader:
This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
ALL:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Leader:
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
ALL:
The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
Leader:
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,
ALL:
to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
(Nehemiah 9:5-6, Psalm 90:1-2, Lamentations 3:21–23, Philippians 1:6, Psalm 118:14, Jude 24–25 ESV)