Burning Bowl 2026

1/11/2026

Revelation 21:4-5

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. Behold, I make all things new.

John relates a spiritual vision in this passage, of Christ describing what happens when we experience God’s presence: He dwells with us; He dries our tears, eliminates death and mourning and pain. The former things pass away, and God makes all things new. 

When we align our minds, hearts, awareness, and intentions with God, we are made new. What we were before is transformed into something fresh and different. We abandon our old ways of being, thinking, behaving, speaking, reacting, and expecting and embrace a more pertinent set of directives, a set that is more Spirit-ordered, Christ-guided, positive, effective, and uniquely designed for us so that God can express more freely into Creation through us.

This is the entire purpose of Advent and Christmas: to have our Christ-nature lead us, guide us, transform us. But we must do our part; we must allow this inner process and help facilitate the changes that Christ initiates.

Today we will engage in a two-part symbolic ritual called the Burning Bowl and a Letter to God.  It is a spiritual and psychological combination of two ideas: the releasing or burning away of our unneeded and unproductive aspects that hold us back and pull us down, and then gathering to us those parts that elevate us and make us more in tune with God. Although it is a few days into the New Year, the changes we seek in our life are not a matter of calendar; they are a matter of choice.

For those that are listening or watching this recorded service, I encourage you to take part in this valuable exercise as well. Pause the audio or video when needed.

In a moment we will begin the first part of this exercise: to write down the things in our lives that we would like to release.  Let us remember that the past has no control over us other than what we give it. What’s done is done; what’s gone is gone, and we are forgiven. We focus on what we can affect, and that is what we are thinking and doing right now.

Maybe we are ready to release our feelings of powerlessness – old physical and mental habits that no longer serve us: fears, doubts, prejudices, attitudes, and habits – whatever is no longer useful or productive. We release the idea that we are in any way unworthy of God’s good because of our actions and thoughts in the past. We free ourselves from the idea that God is for some reason showing us disfavor or is punishing us. These are erroneous human thoughts of the ego, and we gently and lovingly let them go.

So, let us write down all the dross that is on our hearts and minds, and then those papers will be burned – a symbolic release and discard of what is not working for us. We let go and let God.

Prayer: Beloved God, living loving Christ, today we release what we don’t want. We ask that You remove those things within us that we have missed. We let go and let You do Your work in this sacred experience. In this, we are healed, and renewed, and acknowledge that we are forgiven. We open our hearts to love, and are blessed with peace, joy, and harmony. We release these obstacles so that we can more easily follow Your directives placed in our minds and written on our hearts. Amen.

[Burning Bowl Ceremony] As you place your paper into the flame, say a silent prayer of “I release you and let you go. You have no power over me.”

By releasing the past, we have created a spiritual vacuum, a place for new thoughts and attitudes, new ideas, conditions, relationships, and experiences to enter. The negative energy is released, and we now reinvest that energy into positive, affirmative, and rewarding thoughts and ideas.

After a moment of reflection let us write down our visions of what we want this year to bring in the form of a Letter to God. I encourage you to look at the various parts of your lives: faith, family, friends, relationships, finances, work-related, health, fitness, education, learning, attitudes, philosophies, emotions, reactions; service to others and the community.

Whatever it is you want to see materialize in your life this year write it down in the form of a ‘Thank You’ to God.  Do not judge it if you’ve tried an idea in the past and it has not manifested.  Perhaps you are now ready to receive the gift. Write it and thank God for it as many times as it takes. The past has no power over us and Spirit loves to give second chances… unlimited second chances.  We affirm what we want our year to bear.

This is not a race to be first, so when you finish, sit quietly in prayer. Please do not disturb those around you or carry on a conversation. Put your paper in the envelope, address it to you, with your return address and seal it. They will be mailed back to you at the end of 2026, so write clearly, with a complete address. Place your Letter to God in the collection basket today or the next time you are in church. The letters will be prayed over throughout the year and then returned to you at the end of the year. Those watching or listening to this recording, The alternative to putting it in the collection basket is to mail your self-addressed sealed envelope to me.  Address it to: Patrick Jolly, Letter to God, 2500 Brentwood Drive Carson City, NV 89701. You can do this anytime throughout the year.

Another option is to set your letter aside and place it somewhere you can give it a brief prayer when you think of it; something like “Thank You God for this or something better.”  Then open the Letter at the end of 2026. Now let us write our letters to God.