A Prayer and a Wish for the New Year

           Grace, courage and wisdom; these three things are asked of God in the following version of a prayer that has appeared in various forms throughout the centuries. Known perhaps most commonly as the Serenity Prayer, its author and date of origin have never been determined with any certainty, but it has been used widely by many groups (such as Alcoholics Anonymous) and persons facing difficult challenges.

"God, give us grace to accept with serenity

the things that cannot be changed,

Courage to change the things which should be changed,

and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other."

            Maybe you don’t think of your own life, or the life of our congregation, as facing difficult challenges currently or foreseen in the year ahead, but I think the desires expressed in the prayer are timelessly relevant.

            For one thing, we never know what each day, much less a whole year holds and the prayer expresses a stance of yieldedness and acknowledgement of need for God that is critical to faithfully following God in any setting or circumstance.

            Secondly, those of us privileged to live in this time and place in a position of relative wealth and power need reminding that we can’t change anything and everything we put our mind to, nor should we. A healthy awareness of our God-intended limitations helps keep us from feeling overwhelmed when life seems beyond our control.

            Thirdly, the word in the prayer that is often used to title it, serenity, is a commodity that is in critically short supply in our day and age. Even saying it feels strange to me; it has an antiquated or idealistic ring to it. It sounds like something that was only possible in some bygone simpler era or perhaps is only the goal of unrealistic, escapist dreamers. But I am reminded by this word, and its meaning in this prayer, of another prayer heard between the lines of the apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

Php 4:11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Between the lines I hear Paul uttering a prayer of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving for situations many of us would only grudgingly accept after we’d tried everything in our power to change them. After all, none of us would seek to be in need or hungry, yet it is truly only in those times that we fully understand that it is God who gives us strength for the things we’d rather change in life. It is God who is able to redeem and bring good out of even the most tragic or difficult situations that are a part of life on this earth. It is not God that brings these crises into our lives, but it is God who brings us through them. And as we begin to see that truth at work in our lives, our trust in God and reliance on God develops and grows, and before we know it, something that feels an awful lot like serenity begins to settle in.

So what should we pray for as we enter a new year? Maybe we should pray less for prosperity, security and ease, and pray more for the serenity that comes from grace, courage and wisdom.

My wish for you is this: amidst the inevitable challenges the upcoming year will bring, may your new year be truly serene!

Pastor Carl