The Te Deum is prayed on the eve of the new calendar year – that is today. It’s a prayer of praise and thanks. Why do we pray it on this day? What’s the subtext?
Is it – thanks for a fabulous year full of success! Is it – thanks be that this rotten year is over! or is it – thanks for a new year for me to find fulfillment, satisfaction and success!
Nope…it’s not that at all. It’s a prayer of praise to God and the few petitions embedded within are not about thanking God for how great our lives are or rescuing us from our present earthly difficulties in favor of earthly healing and comfort…. but to bring us closer to Him and save us from sin.
We praise your name forever.
Keep us today, Lord, from all sin.
Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.
Lord, show us your love and mercy;
For we put our trust in you.
In you, Lord, is our hope:
And we shall never hope in vain
The words of the Old Testament prophets were proclaimed in the midst of the great suffering of God’s people. Jesus entered a world of empire and oppression, of material poverty, division, violence, sickness and death. God’s Word was proclaimed, the Good News shared and lived thousands a years ago to suffering people…and so today.
From Amy Welborn's 2020 Book of Grace-Filled Days.
