This is the hymn the four of us present in chapel this morning sang during the prayers – we used a different melody but these old, 18th-century words spoke powerfully into the close of 2012 and the beginning of 2013:
Great God, we sing Your mighty hand
By which supported still we stand;
The opening year Your mercy shows,
That mercy crowns it ’til its close.
By day, by night, at home, abroad,
Still are we guarded by our God,
By His incessant bounty fed,
By His unerring counsel led.
With grateful hearts the past we own;
The future, all to us unknown,
We to Thy guardian care commit,
And peaceful leave before Thy feet.
In scenes exalted or depressed,
You are our joy, and You our rest;
Your goodness all our hopes shall raise,
Adored through all our changing days.
(Philip Doddridge (1702-51)
May that guiding Hand continue to be upon all of us, both the community present at IBTS campus and those dispersed throughout the world. Happy – and truly blessed – New Year to all!
– Lina