This service was adapted from a New Year’s Day service prepared by Elizabeth Nanninga for First Christian Reformed Church of Orillia, Ontario. She is a member of the worship committee and serves as coordinator and leader of a praise team at her church.
Planning this service began with a simple idea: when turning the pages of a new calendar, each page is blank; every new day, each new month, each new year offers a fresh start. Every day God provides what we need to face uncertainties; God’s mercies are new every morning. So we decided to celebrate with a focus on all things new.
—Elizabeth Nanninga
A New Day
Call to Worship
This is the day that the Lord has made.
We will be glad and rejoice in it.
This is the year that the Lord has begun.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning.
Great is your faithfulness.
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to those who seek him.
Great is your faithfulness, O Lord.
—from Jeremiah 3:22-25
Songs of Praise
“The Steadfast Love of the Lord Never Ceases” SNC 242
“Great Is Thy Faithfulness” PsH 556, PH 276, RL 155, TH 32, TWC 60
Mutual Greetings for the New Year
Prayer
A New Name
Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 62:1-5, 11-12
New Testament Reading: 1 Peter 2:9-10
Response of Thanksgiving
Through the work of Jesus Christ, we belong to him.
Through Jesus’ work on the cross, God gave us a new name.
Let us discover anew and accept with new assurance that we are who God says we are—holy and redeemed people who belong to him.
Thank you, our Father, for changing our name.
We shall no longer be called Wounded, Outcast, Lonely, or Afraid.
Our new name shall be The Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord, Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted.
People of God, let us take up our new name with new confidence to live this year as the people of God we are called to be, so that we may indeed be “Sought After.” May others seek God’s face because of us in this coming year.
Hymn of Purpose and Joy
“Church of God, Elect and Glorious” PsH 533
A New Song
Old Testament Reading: Psalm 98:1
New Testament Reading: Ephesians 5:18b-20
Songs of Praise
“Sing a New Song unto the Lord” SNC 1
Psalm 98: “Sing a New Song to the Lord” SNC 112
“Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us” PsH 591, PH 387, TH 599, TWC 522
A New Way
New Testament Reading: Hebrews 10:19-25
Meditation: A New Way
Prayer
Hymn of Rededication,
“Lead Me, Guide Me” PsH 544, SFL 220
Offering
A New Heaven and a New Earth
Scripture: Revelation 21:1-5a
Parting Words of Encouragement
God says: “Behold, I am making everything new!” In this new year, let us move forward with the confidence our new name gives, with a new song in our hearts and on our lips, with the new way before us, and with our eyes fixed on the horizon when Christ will return and make a new heaven and a new earth.
May this be the year. Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus!
Parting Hymn
“The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns” PsH 615, RL 607
Parting Blessing
Here this promise of Christ: "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Threefold Amen PsH 641