Have you ever had a promise broken? Of course you have - we all have. Some of those broken promises are more significant than others and some have lasting impressions. Our lives are filled with promises made by ourselves and others.
Each year Methodist Church members affirm their promises made at baptism and confirmation and recommit themselves to God. This is done in the Covenant Service which takes place in January or September (the start of the Methodist Year). Central in this service is holy communion, the time we remember God's everlasting covenant with us and how much we are worth to God. Our covenant to God is to follow and surrender to God's will and purpose. This means we are called to do things that are natural to us and others things we are not.
The Covenant Prayer is not easy to say, it challenges us in deep ways.
I am no longer my own but yours.
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing,
put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you,
or laid aside for you,
exalted for you,
or brought low for you;
let me be full,
let me be empty,
let me have all things,
let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours.'
In our world we prize our ability to make decisions and choose our own path in life. It can feel very hard to give that up. But this coveant prayer is like a love poem. It is about surrendering to God in love and joy. When we ofer this covenant prayer to God we can be assured that God, in mercy and grace, has already made a covenant with us. This covenant we see suprememly in Jesus as God's presence to us.
May God bless us as we journey with God in our lives.
