Do you remember when it used to be common for churches to hold a “Watchnight Service” on New Year’s Eve? We would have a covered dish dinner at church, with lots of delightful homemade dishes, and a lot of “left over” Christmas goodies. Then we would play table games until 11:00 pm, at which time we would all move into the sanctuary. It would be a quiet, subdued devotional service that included scriptures, hymns, testimonies of God’s blessings during the past year, prayer requests for the year ahead, and a brief devotional message from the pastor. We would conclude with the lights turned low, coming forward row by row to receive the elements of the Lord’s Supper just before midnight, before wishing one another “Happy New Year” as we departed for home. No fireworks; just loving fellowship. Of course, we dare not do that whole thing these days because of the great number of drunk drivers on the roads at that hour. How sad!
But we can enjoy an abbreviated version of that, concluding perhaps by 8 or 9 pm so as to be home before it becomes so dangerous. If so, how wonderful to conclude one year and then begin the next with grateful praise and trust in the Lord, and in fellowship with our church family. Hopefully whatever yourgathering will look like, it will include a time of worship, informed by God’s word so as to hear and claim God’s promises. It could be a great opportunity to introduce a theme verse for the church for the year ahead, with the pastor bringing a short exposition of that, as people took the first step toward memorizing. Perhaps something like Philippians 3:13-14, “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus,” or 1 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
When we observe the New Year, what hymn might we sing? One great possibility could be “Another Year Is Dawning,” written at the end of 1873 as a prayer for New Year’s 1874 by Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879). Each New Year’s Day, Frances reconsecrated herself to living for Jesus. As a result, she wrote several New Year’s hymns, “Another Year Is Dawning” being the most popular of those. She composed this particular poem and had it printed on a greeting card to be sent to friends. The card’s caption read, “A Happy New Year! Ever Such May It Be!”
As circumstances turned out, Frances herself ended up needing this prayer, for just a few days later she experienced a stunning setback. She was looking forward to being launched as an author in America, and her agent in New York had made reassuring promises. Then a letter came which she thought would bring a royalty check, perhaps the first of many. It instead brought the intelligence that her publisher had gone bankrupt in the Stock Market crash of 1873.
Frances had only recently entrusted all her affairs to the Lord. As a result, she was able to bear this sudden reversal of her prospects with peace. She wrote of this to a friend:
I have just had such a blessing in the shape of what would have been only two months ago a really bitter blow to me. … I was expecting a letter from America, enclosing thirty-five pounds now due me, and possibly news that [my book] was going on like steam. The letter has come and, instead of all this, my publisher has failed in the universal crash. He holds my written promise to publish only with him as the condition of his launching me, so this is not simply a little loss, but an end of all my American prospects. …
I really had not expected that He [God] would do for me so much above all I asked [Ephesians 3:20], as not merely to help me to acquiesce in this, but positively not to feel it at all, and only to rejoice in it as a clear test of the reality of victorious faith which I do find brightening almost daily. Two months ago this would have been a real trial to me, for I had built a good deal on my American prospects; now ‘Thy will be done’ is not a sigh but only a song.
Frances, the daughter of the Rev. W. H. Havergal, was born at Astley, Worcestershire, on December 14, 1836. Five years later her father moved to the Rectory of St. Nicholas, Worcester. In August of 1850, she entered Mrs. Teed’s school, whose influence over her was most beneficial. In the following year she said, “I committed my soul to the Savior, and earth and heaven seemed brighter from that moment.” A short sojourn in Germany followed, and on her return she was confirmed in Worcester Cathedral on July 17, 1853. In 1860 she left Worcester when her father resigned from St. Nicholas, and lived at different periods in Leamington, and at Caswall Bay, Swansea, broken by visits to Switzerland, Scotland, and North Wales. She died at Caswell Bay, Swansea on June 3, 1879.
Miss Havergal’s scholastic acquirements were extensive, embracing several modern languages, together with Greek and Hebrew. She did not occupy, and did not claim for herself, a prominent place as a poet, but by her distinct individuality she carved out a niche which she alone could fill. In her hymns and letters, simply and sweetly she sang the love of God, and His way of salvation. To this end, and for this object, her whole life and all her powers were consecrated. She lived and spoke that devotion in every line of her poetry. Her poems are permeated with the fragrance of her passionate love of Jesus. Her religious views and theological orientation are distinctly evangelistic and Calvinistic. The burden of her writings is a free and full salvation, through the Redeemer’s merits, for every sinner who will receive it, and her life was devoted to the proclamation of this truth by personal labors, literary efforts, and earnest interest in Foreign Missions.
Havergal’s hymns were frequently printed as leaflets, and as ornamental cards. They were gathered together from time to time and published in several collections of her works. About 15 of the more important of Miss Havergal’s hymns, including “Golden Harps Are Sounding,” “I Gave My Life for Thee,” “Jesus, Master, Whose I Am,” “Lord, Speak to Me,” “O Master, at Thy Feet,” and “Take My Life and Let It Be” as perhaps the most-often of her works sung today The rest, which are in common use, number nearly 50. “Another Year Is Dawning” is a hymn which reminds us that with the passing of each year we need to follow the counsel of Psalm 90:12, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
People have many different attitudes and practices about New Years observances. Some of these are cultural or family traditions, like a New Year’s Eve kiss. We all know of those who have done such things as making these kinds of resolutions at New Years: start a new diet to lose weight, give up a harmful practice (like smoking), spend less money on eating out at restaurants, reconnect with a long lost friend (a classmate or former neighbor), spend less time on the internet, go to bed earlier, use stairs instead of elevators. The best kind of resolutions are those that have spiritual benefits, like deciding that this next year will be the one in which we read through the entire Bible.
But however we observe the New Year, it’s a great time to recall what God has taught us in the past year, what answers to prayer we have seen, what spiritual weaknesses He has enabled us to overcome, what spiritual gifts we have been able to use for the benefit of others at church, what changes we have seen in the lives of those we have been mentoring. Similarly, in the year ahead it might be several books about biblical truth and/or Christian living we want to digest, a Bible study group we want to join, or a missionary we want to begin supporting.
Most helpful, as “Another Year Is Dawning,” are the decisions one can make for improvement in personal spiritual health. What can I do that will draw me closer to the Lord, that will help me love Him more earnestly, that will open my eyes more widely to the needs of those around me and the opportunities that the Lord will set before me, that will make me quicker to repent when I recognize sin in my heart and more alert to the temptations that will rise up before me. What strength can I build up in my heart so that I will more promptly experience His gift of peace, to have more strength to overcome disappointments, to stand firm in the face of opposition, and respond more gently when slandered and more faithfully when persecuted.
Whatever it may be, Havergal’s hymn directs us to look back and look ahead as “another year is dawning,” so that we don’t waste the opportunity to benefit from this milestone in time and in our own lives.
Stanza 1 focuses upon our relationship with God, in anticipation of growing closer to Him than ever before. This is a good reminder that every dimension of our lives has a connection with the Lord in whose presence we live. The year ahead will offer opportunities to become “another year of leaning upon Thy loving breast,” and also “another year of trusting, of quiet, happy rest.
Another year is dawning!
Dear Father, let it be,
in working or in waiting,
another year with Thee;
another year of leaning
upon Thy loving breast,
another year of trusting,
of quiet, happy rest.
Stanza 2 focuses upon God’s blessings to us, reflecting on His goodness in the past year. We sing to remind ourselves of the ways in which the Lord has shown us His goodness in the past year, another year of experiencing “the shining of Thy face.” It ought to bring us great encouragement to realize, with humility, that we have indeed made progress in our pursuit of holiness since this time last year, and that we have been more consistent in giving Him praise through the days.
Another year of mercies,
of faithfulness and grace;
another year of gladness
in the shining of Thy face;
another year of progress,
another year of praise,
another year of proving
Thy presence all the days.
Stanza 3 focuses upon our hope of eternity as we look ahead into the future, looking forward to even more of God’s blessings in and through us, all the way into the life to come. Notice the particulars that Havergal included in this stanza to make it as specific and practical as possible: service to others, witnessing to the lost, and training for holiness. And as this could be our last year on earth, she wrote of trusting the Lord for whatever He has ordained for us, whether it’s another year of life here on earth, or whether this will be our final days to prepare us for heaven.
Another year of service,
of witness for Thy love;
another year of training
for holier work above.
Another year is dawning!
Dear Father, let it be
on earth, or else in heaven,
another year for Thee.
While God’s word does not authorize making some kind of religious celebration out of the new year, there is certainly nothing wrong with taking note of the passing of time from year to year and using it as a motivating factor to help us grow in our service and devotion to God, our appreciation of His goodness, and our desire for heaven as we see that “Another Year Is Dawning.”
This hymn has been set to several different tunes. Most hymnals use AURELIA, composed in 1864 by Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876), the grandson of Charles Wesley. His middle name derived from his father’s lifelong admiration for the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. After singing in the choir of the Chapel Royal as a boy, Samuel Sebastian embarked on a career as a musician, and was appointed organist at Hereford Cathedral in 1832. While there he married the sister of the Dean, John Merewether. He moved to Exeter Cathedral three years later. He subsequently held appointments at Leeds Parish Church (from 1842), Winchester Cathedral (from 1849), Winchester College and Gloucester Cathedral (1865–1876). In 1839 he received both his Bachelor of Music degree and a Doctor of Music degree from Oxford. He became a Professor of Organ at the Royal Academy of Music in 1850. He died at his home in Gloucester on April 19, 1876 aged 65. He is buried next to his daughter in St. Bartholomew’s Cemetery in Exeter by the old City Wall. There are memorial tablets to him in Exeter Cathedral and Winchester Cathedral, and his memorial at Gloucester Cathedral is in stained glass.
Famous in his lifetime as one of his country’s leading organists and choirmasters, he composed almost exclusively for the Church of England, which continues to cherish his memory. His better-known anthems include “Thou Wilt Keep Him in Perfect Peace” and “Wash Me Throughly.” The popular short anthem “Lead Me, Lord” is an extract from “Praise the Lord, O My Soul.” Several of his pieces for solo organ have enduring value and continue to be played in recitals now and then. Of his hymn tunes the best-known are AURELIA and HEREFORD. Wesley composed the former tune for the hymn “Jerusalem the Golden,” hence the name AURELIA.
While at Winchester Cathedral, Wesley was largely responsible for the cathedral’s acquisition in 1854 of the Father Willis organ which had been exhibited at The Great Exhibition in 1851. The success of the exhibition organ led directly to the award of the contract to Willis for a 100-stop organ for St. George’s Hall, Liverpool, built in 1855. Wesley was the consultant for this major and important project. Wesley, with Father Willis, can be credited with the invention of the concave and radiating organ pedalboard that is standard today, but demurred when Willis proposed that it should be known as the “Wesley-Willis” pedalboard. However, their joint conception has been largely adopted as an international standard for organs throughout the English-speaking world and those exported elsewhere.
“Another Year Is Dawning” has also been set to a fairly well-known tune (EWING or ST. BEDE’S) composed by Alexander Ewing, who was born on January 3, 1830, at Old Machar in Aberdeen, Scotland. Though he studied law at Marischal College in Aberdeen, his true love was music and he sought a musical education at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. While he was not a professional musician, he became very skilled with the piano, cello, violin, and cornet. This melody, apparently produced after his return to Aberdeen from Heidelberg and intended for the medieval Latin hymn, “For Thee, O Dear, Dear Country,” attributed to Bernard of Cluny and translated by John Mason Neale, is the only music that he is known to have composed. A member of both the Haydn Society and the Harmonic Choir, he brought the piece to choir practice one night, and that choir was the first ever to sing it. It was first printed as a single sheet in 1853, and later published in John Grey’s 1857 “Manual of Psalm and Hymn Tunes.” Later, William Henry Monk altered the tune for use in the 1861 “Hymns Ancient and Modern” with another medieval Latin hymn also attributed to Bernard of Cluny and translated by John Mason Neale, “Jerusalem, the Golden,” for which many books use a tune by Anthony J. Showalter.
When the Crimean War broke out in 1855, Ewing joined the army, serving in the Commissariat Department, and was stationed for a while at Constantinople. Remaining in the foreign service as a linguist after the war and serving in Australia and China, he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and received a medal for the 1869 campaign in China. Ewing died on July 11, 1895, at Taunton in Somerset, England.
Here is a link to the singing of the hymn, though with a slight rearrangement of the lyrics.