We thank you, O Lord, for this day and the tomorrow that is to come. The start of a new year with its unrevealed destiny for the world, is fast approaching.

In earnest longing, and from the depths of our being, we offer up this prayer for the year 1984:

May it be a year of peace between nations;
A year of goodwill between all peoples;
A year of building; no more destroying;
A year of sharing, between all peoples, the riches and fruitful abundance of Your earth;
A year when the human spirit of decency, honor and justice will prevail above all.
Hear our prayer, O Lord, and let it so be.

While driving home from work this evening, it occurred to me I haven’t commented on and posted my grandmother’s invocations in many months. I found it ironic, when I looked at the next invocation in her series, it was dated December 21, 1983… exactly twenty-seven years ago!

Sadly, this past year hasn’t been one of peace between nations, goodwill between people, and decency, honor, and justice for all. It’s been the opposite. Even worse, equality, tolerance, and benevolence are now more of an utopian fantasy than it was in the early 1980’s.

The rise of the super wealthy in concert with increases in poverty levels, uprising on every continent, famine and droughts, economic instability, and hatred prorogated by fringe factions paints a grim picture, which is shaping the world’s destiny in 2012.

Our hope for a better future hinges not only on prayer, but recognizing we aren’t powerless to change the status quo. While 2011 has been a year of tremendous upheaval, it might have set the stage for constructive, and beneficial change.