The first documented occasion of one of John Wesley’s Covenant Renewal Services was held at the French Church in Spitafields, a district in London, England, in 1755. Wesley was drawing on a long tradition within renewal movements when he invited his fellow Methodists to engage in this service of rededication to God. The practice became widespread in the Methodist Revival and was generally utilized at the turn of the new calendar year.
New Years is a time of reflection and resolution, a time to look back and give thanks and look forward and renew commitments to health, wholeness, and faithful living. In the spirit of the New Year, then, I offer you a Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition. This is a prayer John Wesley adapted for use in the Methodist Covenant Renewal Services.
The prayer can be challenging for modern-day Christians due to our tendency to want to meet God on our own terms. But, this is a prayer of surrender to God’s will, a prayer of abandonment to God’s desires for our lives, trusting that God, being all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful, knows what our best possible life is and will guide us into that life if we bend our will to his in the power of the Holy Spirit. When we follow Jesus in his obedience to the Heavenly Father, “Not my will, but yours,” then God can demonstrate his saving power in our lives and through our lives.
As we enter into a new year, let this be our prayer and commitment.
A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition
#607 The United Methodist Hymnal
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 by 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.