I begin the new year in your name with prayer, sighing, and supplication. Lord, be pleased to hear my voice early, on the threshold of the new year. A year is long; its days are many. Human misery is manifold, and the calamities that may befall us are countless. And so I come to You, O mighty and loving God, and wish to commend myself at its very beginning to Your mercy and faithfulness. Now that all things are about to be made new, the earth again to be covered with green vegetation; the sun ascending higher and higher, and everything is to be filled with new vigor, let Your goodness and mercy be renewed upon me. I commit my soul into Your fatherly mercy and protection. Guard it against sin, that I may not contaminate it by willful and intentional rebellion. Lord Jesus, sanctify, wash, and cleanse me with Your precious blood. God the Holy Spirit, dwell in my soul, and let it be Your temple. What a blessed year it will be for me if I, heavenly Father, abide in Your grace and live as Your child - from Stark's Prayer Book, edited by William Weedon, pp. 67, 68
