A Watch Night service is traditionally held on New Year’s Eve to reflect on the past year and welcome the new one through prayer, scripture and worship. It is part of the liturgical rhythm in many church traditions.
It also has deep roots in Moravian and Methodist traditions, with a significant special meaning in African American churches as “Freedom’s Eve,” commemorating the night enslaved people waited for the Emancipation Proclamation to take effect at midnight on January 1, 1863.
‘As we step into this new year, may Christ’s presence steady us, and lead us forward together in hope’. (Charissa Suli)
(the New Year’s Prayers and Blessings page may also have some resources that could be useful for a New Year’s Eve service)
“Each day is a new gift from God, calling us to repentance, thanksgiving, and praise.”
(St Ephrem the Assyrian)
“Begin every season with mercy in your heart, and God will crown your days with peace, for every new beginning is an invitation to return to God.” (St Isaac of Nineveh)
Wesley Covenant Prayer (which John Wesley adapted from the Puritan tradition)
Instead of heeding the advice to finish the year strong, why don’t we finish the year soft with hearts woven with wonder and grace?
Why don’t we finish the year with deep breaths, sacred rest and whatever delights that would nurture our souls?
Why don’t we let in a little gratitude that we somehow made it through another cycle on this beautiful and brutal planet?
Why don’t we take a moment to remember that we are not a problem to be solved or fixed but a person worthy of love?
Why don’t we let go of the pressure and need to impress the world with a better version of ourselves and remember who we are – beneath the noise, pressure, expectations -because love already has made room for that version of you?
Why don’t we reach out and remind someone of the astonishing light of their being…just because?
Why don’t we quietly say thank you for this past year and the gifts it has brought us through triumphs and tears?
Why don’t we reach deep within and find a “Yes!” for all that summons our souls in the year ahead and say “No!” to all that diminishes us?
Why don’t we allow our inward gaze to be gentle and our gaze upon others to be soft?
(Source: Rev Dr Steven Koski, Bend Presbyterian, 2025)
At The End Of The Year
The particular mind of the ocean
Filling the coastline’s longing
With such a brief harvest
Of elegant, vanishing waves
Is like the mind of time
Opening us to the shapes of days.
As this year draws to its end,
We give thanks for the gifts brought
And how they became inlaid within
Where neither time nor tide can touch them.
The days when the veil lifted
And the soul could see delight;
When a quiver caressed the heart
In the sheer exuberance of being here.
Surprises that came awake
In forgotten corners of old fields
Where expectation seemed to have quenched.
The slow brooding times
When all was awkward
And the wave in the mind
Pierced every sore with salt.
The darkened days that stopped
The confidence of the dawn.
Days when beloved faces shone brighter
With light from beyond themselves;
And from the granite of some secret sorrow
A stream of buried tears loosened.
We bless this year for all we learned,
For all we loved and lost
And for the quiet way it brought us
Nearer to our invisible destination.
(Source: John O’Donohue, To Bless The Space Between)
God Knows (also known as The Gate of the Year)
And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.
(Source: written by Minnie Louise Haskins and famously broadcast by HM King George VI as part of his 1939 Christmas broadcast)
God of all time,
help us enter the New Year quietly,
thoughtful of who we are to ourselves and to others,
mindful that our steps make an impact
and our words carry power.
May we walk gently.
May we speak only after we have listened well.
Creator of all life,
help us enter the New Year reverently,
aware that you have endowed
every creature and plant, every person and habitat
with beauty and purpose.
May we regard the world with tenderness.
May we honour rather than destroy.
Lover of all souls,
help us enter the New Year joyfully,
willing to laugh and dance and dream,
remembering our many gifts with thanks
and looking forward to blessings yet to come.
May we welcome your lavish love.
May we cast off the small, vindictive god our fears have made.
May the grace and peace of Christ bless you now and in the days ahead.
(Source: Vinita Hampton Wright)
Remembrance of God’s Faithfulness in the Congregation
Names are read out of people in the categories (as relevant) – eg births, new members, professions of faith/confirmation/baptism, marriages, deaths. Consider also having a table with candles to light for each section or each person.
This liturgy has lots of readings – some of which may be useful in planning a New Year’s Eve service. I definitely wouldn’t bombard people with lots of readings. Fewer readings, a more spacious and reflective service.
A Season for all Things (Ecclesiastes 3)
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
Liturgy for a New Year’s Eve service (source: Reformed Worship)
MUSIC
Singing from the Lectionary has a lot of options for New Year’s Day service – many of the suggestions would also be appropriate for a New Year’s Eve service.
‘For everything there is a time’ – Carolyn Winfrey Gillette (tune: Tallis’ Canon)
Great is thy faithfulness
Why do you stand so far apart, O Lord (to tune Eventide associated with ‘abide with me’)
It’s a long song – verses 1, 2, 6, 7, 9 seem most appropriate for this service
In the Lord I’ll be ever thankful (Taize)
In the Lord I’ll be ever thankful
in the Lord I will rejoice!
Look to God, do not be afraid;
lift up your voices: the Lord is near,
lift up your voices: the Lord is near.
Greet now the swiftly changing year
As the old year passes (tune: TIS 665/Noel Nouvelet)
As the old year passes
we look back, reflect:
times of joy and promise,
times we’d best forget.
God of the ages
help us walk your way.
Help us greet your future,
seize tomorrow’s day
As the old year passes
sorrow wells within:
loved ones no more ‘round us,
all that could have been.
God of compassion
heal each ailing heart.
Guide us to your future
where new life may start
As the old year passes
we cry for our struggling world.
Climate ever-changing,
fighting too-often heard.
Jesus, you call us
to cherish all you give.
Call us to your future
where all in peace, might live
As the new year dawns now
we would give you praise.
Faithful God, come lead us
onward in new ways.
We’ll love and serve you
in the faith of Christ,
in your Spirit’s future;
people of new life.
© David MacGregor 2007, Willow Publishing
A new year is come by David MacGregor
“One More Step Along the World I Go” by Sydney Carter
