Epiphany Sunday / Wesley's Covenant Prayer

Epiphany Sunday

January 1, 2017

CHRIST ALONE IS ALL I NEED.

This is what I thought when I saw the Christ candle burning alone yesterday.

Then a little later in the service, the preacher used John Wesley's Covenant Prayer.

A prayer I have tried to embody since I first remember praying it.

A prayer that has been integral in many stages of my life

-from praying it as a little girl in my dad's church services

to my job at the counseling center

to my college days at one of my colleges

to my John Wesley classes at another college

to hearing my Rob pray it with the group at a covenant service when he was first a pastor

to praying it with my Rob in private as we moved from place to place.

Such an important part of my life, this prayer has been.

Such a meaningful part of my world each time my world changed.

An intentional covenant between God and the ministry team Rob and I formed.

An intentional covenant between God and me individually.

But, 

if the truth be known,

I haven't even thought about this prayer in a good, long while. 

So it was good to be reminded yesterday,

on New Year's Day 2017,

to refresh and renew that covenant.

So I did.

JOHN WESLEY'S COVENANT PRAYER

"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."