New Year's Eve - A Covenant Prayer Reflection

I hope you have each had a blessed 2008.  And by blessed, I don't mean happy. I know in each of our lives there have been moments of great sadness, moments of pain, moments of loss.  We have all experienced that. 

But, by blessed, I mean that I hope you have experienced God in powerful ways this year.  I hope you have felt His grace, His peace, and His mercy.  I hope you have grown closer to HIm and are more in love with Him and your Neighbor now, than you were this time last year. 

I hope you have know His grace and grown in His grace.

I hope you have felt His love.

I hope you have had peace.

It was traditional for John Wesley to lead his people in a Covenant Renewal Service on New Year's Eve. And as part of that service, there was a prayer that was prayed. And, in closing this year, I want to share that prayer with you

A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition

I am no longer my own, but thine.

Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,

exalted for thee or brought low for thee.

Let me be full, let me be empty.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

thou art mine, and I am thine.

So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,

let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

This prayer reminds us that our life is not our own, we live it for God. So many of us seek life in things that are not lasting. We seek to live, but never fully find life. We find though, that when we realize that we live not for ourselves, but for God, we find that true, amazing, all empowering joyful life. 

Not happy life. Joyful life. Life that shines, even in the darkness.  

In this new year, let us realize the power of His grace, the joy of His life, and that hope that comes, even in midst of darkness, to all that stand within His grace. 

May God make His face to shine upon you now, and always. 

See you next year!