New Year

God will watch over your going out and your coming in, today and every day.
Ps 121 v8

Stand near a doorway; think about  the doors that have opened and closed for you this year.

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year ‘ Give me a light that I may walk safely into the unknown’. And he replied ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be better than light and safer than a known way’.  M L Haskins

A prayer to take into the New Year
Take my hand God.
Introduce me
to your friends,
to your saints,
to your little ones.
Lead me in ways of justice and joy

Here we bring new water from the well so clear,
For to worship God with, this happy new year;
Sing levy dew, sing levy dew, the water and the wine,
With seven bright gold wires, and bugles that do shine.

Sing reign of fair maid, with gold upon her toe;
Open you the west door and turn the old year go;
Sing levy dew, sing levy dew, the water and the wine,
With seven bright gold wires, and bugles that do shine.

Sing reign of fair maid, with gold upon her chin.
Open you the east door and let the new year in!
Sing levy dew, sing levy dew, the water and the wine,
With seven bright gold wires, and bugles that do shine.

Words : Traditional, collected by Walter de la Mare in his anthology Tom Tiddler's Ground
Music  : Benjamin Britten  in Friday Afternoons
 
Click on this link to listen to a recording of the New Year Carol, above, performed by Dunblane Cathedral Treble Choir.

Click here for another recording of the same carol performed in Coventry Cathedral.