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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Rt Revd Dr Jo Bailey Wells, Bishop of Dorking

Good morning.

A new dawn, a new day, a new year. So much in the new that is unknown – not least a brave new era in our relations with Europe! And how we long for a new era in terms of health and well-being, in business and society, as well as for the climate of our whole planet.

But there is so much unknown. How do we live in the face of uncertainty? Jesus’ advice was to do it one day at a time: ‘Do not worry about tomorrow; today has enough worries of its own’. In other words, keep going in the now, one foot in front of the other, maintaining your direction of travel.

The letter to the Hebrews describes Faith as the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. We may not have the details covered but overarching purpose, the final destination is a given. A bit like with a Blue Peter project, God has prepared it earlier. And so we keep going not by sight but by faith.

Years ago I used to pray every day with a student who was very ill, for whom every day was a struggle to survive. This prayer was one that she knew by heart from her Lutheran tradition; and my goodness did she ever live it. I invite you to echo it with me

Lord God,
you have called your servants
to ventures of which we cannot see the ending,
by paths as yet untrodden,
through perils unknown.
Give us faith to go out with good courage,
not knowing where we go,
but only that your hand is leading us
and your love supporting us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.