Sunday, March 28, 2010

Covenant Prayer

God of the Covenant,
I place my life in your hands – for it to be yours to direct and not mine
May you decide what I should do and with whom I should do it;
May you guide when I should be active and when I should rest;
May you sustain me when I am well and when I suffer;
May you be reflected in me when I am praised and when I am challenged;
May I give thanks to you when I enjoy abundance,
and when I know what it is to go without;
May my whole life be given in service of your love and salvation,
use all that I have and all that I am for your purposes;
And may I always remember that you, O God, and I belong to each other.
This is my commitment - I stand by it.
And I ask that you, Jesus, bear witness to it.
Amen.

(a translation of the traditional Methodist Covenant Prayer by John van de Laar of Sacredise)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

very interesting. prayer. I am quite familiar wiht Methodist liturgy but I have not come accros this before.

Steven said...

Hi Simon,

Thanks for the comment.

It's a modern adaptation of the traditional Covenant Prayer from the Methodist Covenant Service by one of our local ministers. You can find out more about the Methodist Covenant Service that Wesley introduced here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Covenant_Prayer

Traditionally all Methodists renew their Covenant once a year.

Grace & Peace
Steven

Anonymous said...

Hey Steven,

What do you mean by "renew their Covenant once a year"?

I'm not a Methodist and intrigued.

Steven said...

Hi Mark,

It's almost like a reaffirmation of your wedding vows. We reaffirm our covenant relationship with God once a year - as a reminder of that covenantal relationship. We surrender our lives anew to the One who should be in control all the time. (Of course this should be done all the time but we do it corporately once a year as a reminder).

You can get a bit more info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Covenant_Prayer

Grace & Peace
Steven

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the answer and the link. My curiosity is satisfied.