Standing at the Portal of Another Year

I remember first singing the words of this hymn on a New Year’s Eve in Johannesburg in the 1990s. Our congregation sang it to the melody of Like a River Glorious. You could listen to the melody below and track with the words after it:

1. Standing at the portal
Of the opening year,
Words of comfort meet us,
Hushing every fear;
Spoken through the silence
By our Father’s voice,
Tender, strong and faithful,
making us rejoice.

Refrain:
Onward, then, and fear not,
Children of the day;
For His word shall never,
Never pass away.

2. “I, the Lord, am with thee,
Be thou not afraid;
I will help and strengthen,
Be thou not dismayed.
Yea, I will uphold thee
With My own right hand;
Thou art called and chosen
In My sight to stand.” Refrain:

3. For the year before us,
O what rich supplies!
For the poor and needy
Living streams shall rise;
For the sad and sinful
Shall His grace abound;
For the faint and feeble
Perfect strength be found. Refrain:

4. He will never fail us,
He will not forsake;
His eternal covenant
He will never break.
Resting on His promise.
What have we to fear?
God is all-sufficient
For the coming year. Refrain:

Standing At The Portal (For the New Year) Words by Frances R. Havergal, 1873

Music James Mountain (1844-1933)

So, as we stand at the portal of 2021, as we round off the challenging year 2020, here is a reflection on God’s kindness in some of the things He has done. Below is the text of our annual newsletter. You may view the newsletter and its pictures HERE.

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

The words above are recorded in Acts 20:35, a quotation by the apostle Paul from Jesus.

God, by his nature, is one who gives. He gave life to our first parents; he gave an environment to them, a perfect one, in which to live. And when they sinned and were ashamed of breaking his law, he provided animal skin coverings for them, an important picture to indicate how he would in future make atonement—covering—for the wrongdoing of them and their descendants.

God gave his Word, the Bible, that we may learn to understand and think aright about him and our world; he gave a system of worship to picture how sacrifice and a Mediator were needed to restore sinners to him in an act of reconciliation.

Ultimately, he gave his Son, Jesus, in a once-for-all act of living on behalf of people, keeping his law perfectly, and dying a death not for his sins—he was sinless—but for the sins of others. The wonderful words of 2 Corinthians 8:9 sum it up: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” In being born as a baby boy, God’s purpose was to redeem and reconcile a people to himself who would no longer live for themselves but for him who loved them.
Do you love him and are you living for him who gave himself for people such as we are?

If you’d like a few more pictures, check out the slideshow below:

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