And yet, while we are not “of the world,” we are certainly “in the world,” and, as such, we also celebrated the beginning of a New Year, yesterday, January 1st. New Year’s Eve/Day has its own customs, as well. For many it includes staying up past (or at least until) midnight, kissing that special someone, and . . . making New Year’s resolutions. This last part allows us to look back on the year we are concluding, and look ahead; to think about where we would like to see changes in our lives.
Oh, New Year’s resolutions get a lot of flak. I mean, people are always talking about making the resolution on day one, and then breaking them by the next month (or week . . . or, even day!). Yet, that doesn’t have to be the case. It is possible to set goals, and to work to reach those goals. - New Year’s provides a great opportunity to do that.
However, there are other ways to mark the coming of a New Year. One way that John Wesley and many of the early Methodist Societies marked the beginning of a new year was by joining together in renewing their covenant with God. This wasn’t the only time that they did this (one finds numerous instances throughout his Journal), but it was an opportune time.
They would renew this covenant by way of the Covenant Service, the roots of which were found in a 1663 publication by the Puritan, Richard Alleine. In 1753, Wesley published a copy of Alleine’s work in his A Christian Library. And, on August 11, 1755, it is likely that the first “Covenant Service” for Methodists took place using a chapter from Alleine’s work.
In 1780, Wesley published the service in pamphlet form for distribution and use. Today, The United Methodist Book of Worship provides a much edited version of the service, updating the language and adapting it to fit within the Basic Four-fold Pattern of worship, but still retaining that part of Wesley’s service that included the Invitation and Covenant Prayer.
In 2012, New Year’s Day fell on a Sunday. That year, while my local congregation did not use either Wesley’s Covenant Service, or the one provided in The Book of Worship, we did include in worship the very brief “A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition,” found on page 607 of The United Methodist Hymnal. This year does not provide us with the same opportunity.
Given our context, few in our congregation would be willing to venture out for a Watch Night Service. January 1st fell on a Wednesday rather than a Sunday, this time around. Plus, I am on vacation and didn't want to impose this on our guest preacher! - Nevertheless, I believe that it is appropriate and good for us to begin a new year by focusing our attention on the Lord and on our relationship with the Lord. Like John Wesley, I believe that an excellent means of doing this is for us to “renew our covenant with the Lord.”
Therefore, I wanted to provide a portion of the Covenant Service so that we might, each one, renew our
covenant with the Lord in a way that is still connected with each other. For, as each of us prays these prayers, and
renew our own covenant, we do so knowing that we are joining with our fellow
Methodists through the ages.
******************************************
Beloved in Christ,
let us again claim
for ourselves
this covenant which
God has made with his people,
and take upon us
the yoke of Christ.
This means that we
are content
That he appoint us
our place and work,
And that he himself
be our reward.
Christ has many
services to be done:
some are easy,
others are difficult;
some bring honour,
others bring reproach;
some are suitable
to our natural inclinations and material interests,
others are contrary
to both;
in some we may
please Christ and please ourselves;
in others we cannot
please Christ except by denying ourselves.
Yet the power to do
all these things is given to us in Christ,
who strengthens us.
Therefore let us
make this covenant of God our own.
Let us give
ourselves to him,
Trusting in his
promises and relying on his grace.
Lord God, holy
Father,
since you have
called us through Christ
to share in this
gracious covenant,
we take upon
ourselves with joy the yoke of obedience
and, for love of
you,
engage ourselves to
seek and do your perfect will.
We are no longer
our own but yours.
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.
So be it.
And the covenant now made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven. Amen
__________________________________________________
The article above was adapted from my recent newsletter article for the Centenary United Methodist Church.
The version of the Covenant Prayer,
above, was taken from The Methodist
Worship Book of The Methodist Church in Britain.
For more information on “The Covenant Service,” and other versions of it, see:
The Book of Worship
for Church and Home, The Methodist Publishing House (The Methodist Church, pre-United
Methodist Church), 1965, p 382-88.
The Church Rituals
Handbook, Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1997, p 199-213
The Methodist
Worship Book, Methodist Publishing House (The Methodist Church in Britain), 1999, p
281-96.
The United
Methodist Hymnal, The United Methodist Publishing House, 1989, p 607.
The United
Methodist Book of Worship, The United Methodist Publishing House, 1992, p.
288-94.
Wesley Hymns, Lillenas Publishing
Co., 1982, p. A-1 – A-10.
For more online versions of "The Covenant Service," see the following:
For more online versions of "The Covenant Service," see the following:
(Thanks to Andrew C. Thomspon) http://www.andrewthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Covenant-Prayer-in-the-Wesleyan-Tradition.pdf
(Thanks to James B. Chapman for the following links)
https://www.facebook.com/download/616101591760758/Wesley%20Covenant%20Service%20WF%20NTS%20short.pdf
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