A responsive prayer based on Gerhardt’s Nun laßt uns gehn und treten.

Heavenly Father,
let us come to you now in song and prayer,
the Lord of our life, who alone gives us strength.

We journey and wander from day to day,
and live and thrive from one year to the next—

through depression and plague, through fear and trepidation,
through war and great horrors that cover the whole world.

For just as faithful mothers diligently protect their children
in severe storms here on earth,

so much more do you keep your children safe
when distress and tribulation strike.

O Protector of our life, everything we do is surely in vain
unless under your careful watch.

Blessed is your faithfulness, which is new every morning.
Praise be to your delicate hands, which mend our heart’s sorrows.

We ask you, O Father, that you remain a fountain of joy
in the midst of our sufferings and the cross we bear.

Give me and all those whose hearts yearn
for you and your favor, a heart that is patient.

Close the gates of lament and let streams of joy flow over
all the places that have endured so much bloodshed.

Give your gentle blessing to all of our ways,
and let the radiance of your grace shine on both great and small.

Be a father for the abandoned, counselor for the guilty,
gift for those without aid, and a possession for the poor.

Be a gracious help to all who are sick and give cheerful thoughts
to the afflicted souls that are tormented with sadness.

And finally, most importantly of all, fill us with your Spirit,
that he may adorn us with splendor and lead us heavenward.

Grant all this, O Life of my life,
to me and to the multitudes of Christians this blessed new year. Amen.

— Ian M. Welch, 2016