Happy Half-Year's Eve! 

1st July 2026 

Tomorrow at 12:00 noon, we reach a quiet milestone that most of us never notice: the exact halfway point of the year!
Six months lived, six months still unfolding.

It’s a hinge moment - a pause between what has been and what is yet to come - and it invites us to look at our lives with the kind of gentle attentiveness the Psalmist prayed for:

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

PSALM 90.12

This halfway mark is not about counting days for efficiency, but about receiving them with clarity and gratitude. And seeking "a heart of wisdom" about the days that are yet to come...

Perhaps halfway-moments might have a way of revealing things to us. They show us

• the patterns we’ve been walking in
• the habits that have quietly shaped us
• the hopes we’ve carried
• the burdens we’ve tucked away
• the blessings we haven't noticed
• the progress we've made without realising it.

They remind us that time is not just passing; it is forming us. And in our journey in God, time is never neutral - it is always held, always purposeful, always gathered up by the God who is making all things new.

To number our days aright is to recognise that every day is a gift, and every gift is an invitation.

At the midpoint of the year, we can look back without getting stuck, and look forward without rushing ahead. We can ask the Spirit to help us see where grace has met us, where healing has begun, where courage has grown, and where we still long for God’s renewing touch. Halfway-moments are honest moments - places where we can admit what has been hard, celebrate what has been good, and name what we hope will change.

And perhaps most importantly, halfway moments remind us that the God has been faithful in the days behind us will be faithful in the days ahead! Every sunrise, every conversation, every challenge, every joy - none of it has been wasted. The God who walked with us through the first half of the year will walk with us through the second, shaping us, guiding us, and teaching us to live wisely and well.

So as we reach this midpoint tomorrow, I want to share again the prayer we prayed together on New Year’s Eve - a prayer for beginnings, for courage, for hope, and for the slow, sacred work of becoming. It feels right to let those words speak again at the halfway mark, reminding us that the God who met us at the threshold of January meets us here too, in the middle, with the same kindness and the same promise. 

 
As we stand here
Right at the threshold of this brand new year...
May you go for God like never before
         May your heart carry His promise – like a wilderness guide
         May your spirit sense His footprints – may Your eyes be on the prize
         May your feet stand at the zenith – in the centre of His will
         May your faith beat louder than your fears – and your love yet louder still
 
As we stand here
Right at the threshold of this brand new year...
And as you go for God – may you give... - may you give it all you’ve got
         Take us deeper into worship – may Jesus be the centre
         Take us closer into intimacy – that we each might know You better
         Take us further out in mission – until the lost, the last, the least hear your call
         Take our love and our lives – before You our petty kingdoms fall
 
As we stand here
Right at the threshold of this brand new year...
As we for God – giving it all we’ve  got –
May we gaze in awesome wonder - at the beauty and the brilliance of You...
        Until Your presence is our passion – until Your hope fills our horizon
        Until we won’t get up from our knees – unless Your voice has shaped our vision
        Until we know more of Your heart – and in the secret place, seek Your face
        Until we see the world differently – each person a child You died to save
 
        Until we see the world as You do – where others see water, may we see wine
        Where others see only darkness and despair – may we see Your light, and shine
        Where others see only endings – may we see: it’s only the beginning
        Where others see sealed tombs of loss and less – may we the broken winning
 
        Because what started in a borrowed manger – ends in a borrowed grave...
        You’re The God of Easter Morning – You’re the God of the new day!
        There were no depths You would not go to – there was no-one too far to save
        And we see Your grace most clearly, when in Your eyes we gaze
                  And so may we gaze
                  And so we gaze – until the things of earth growing strangely dim we gaze –
                ‘cause we find strength to face the day, when we see Him and so we gaze –
                not looking back at by-gone haze of the glory days
                But eyes lifted high - lost in wonder, love and praise
                              We gaze and we gaze and we gaze...
 
As we stand here - right at the threshold of this brand new year...
May we go for God – giving it all we’ve got – gazing at the glory, basking at the grace
God-gazers, God-chasers and God-glorifies for the honour of His Name
This year – like never before
Jesus, it’s in the power of Your Name we pray,

Amen.


To see the full service: click here