Covenant Service

A note on the Covenant Service

On Sunday the 5th February we celebrate our Covenant Service. For over 250 years Methodists have held an annual Covenant Renewal Service.

At the heart of the service is the Covenant Prayer:


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

In the Covenant Service we are reminded that in Jesus Christ God has established a “New Covenant” with us. In the “New Covenant” sins are forgiven and God’s law is written on our hearts (Jer. 31:31ff).

The Covenant Prayer helps us to respond to God’s grace. In it we are saying to God “Yes, this is what we want to be part of. We love you, we trust you and we give ourselves completely to you”.

 The words “put me to suffering” do not mean we ask God to make us suffer. Rather they are an acknowledgement that the way of discipleship is often difficult. But, we are saying, even if it is difficult, even if we suffer for it, we will live as followers of Jesus.
 

 God Bless,

Rev. Sean McGuigan