The Methodist Covenant Service
Service Sheet (pdf)
The Covenant Service is one of the traditional parts of the Methodist calendar. As a feature of Methodist life, the Covenant service goes back to the time of John Wesley. Wesley inherited his understanding of covenanting from the Puritans, who from the seventeenth century onwards used a covenant agreement as the foundation of congregational life. Wesley’s mother, Susannah, had been brought up amongst Puritans and it maybe that she gave Wesley his background knowledge about making such covenants. But in the wording of the Covenant service, Wesley was influenced by Puritan minister, Joseph Alleine. Alleine felt that each new convert ought to make his own personal covenant with Christ. His own recent marriage coloured his choice of words. He called upon these new converts to take Christ for better, for worse. The format of the covenant service has changed over the years, but that sense of ‘for better, for worse’ has remained at the heart of it. It is still very much echoed in the words we are asked to share in today.
Hymn:
Choose a favourite hymn of praise to read or sing, such as Praise my soul the King of heaven, Great is Thy faithfulness, or Tell out my soul the greatness of the Lord
Opening prayer:
through the mediation of your Son,
you call us into a new covenant.
Help us therefore to draw near with faith
and join ourselves in a perpetual covenant with you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Readings:
Old Testament reading: Jeremiah 31: 31-34 - A New Covenant
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
Epistle reading: Romans 12: 1-2 - The New Life in Christ
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Gospel reading: John 15: 1-10 - Jesus the True Vine
‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
Hymn:
Wesley’s covenant hymn. This hymn by Charles Wesley is included in the Methodist Worship Book as part of the Covenant Service. As you read the words here, use them to reflect on what renewing the covenant promise at this time of year means to you:
Come, let us use the grace divine,
And all, with one accord,
In a perpetual cov'nant join
Ourselves to Christ the Lord:
Give up ourselves, through Jesu's power,
His name to glorify;
And promise, in this sacred hour,
For God to live and die.
The cov'nant we this moment make
Be ever kept in mind:
We will no more our God forsake,
Or cast his words behind.
We never will throw off his fear
Who hears our solemn vow;
And if thou art well pleased to hear,
Come down, and meet us now.
To each the cov'nant blood apply,
Which takes our sins away;
And register our names on high,
And keep us to that day.
Which takes our sins away;
And register our names on high,
And keep us to that day.
For further reflection:
Over the years I have found that for many people, the words of the covenant promise are too hard to say. People do not know what they have to give to this covenant relationship, or they do not believe they have the will to wholeheartedly give it. These are very real fears, and ones which should not be readily put on one side. But if we put too much emphasis on what we do, then I believe we miss the central point about the covenant service.
First of all, then, it is not what WE do that is the important thing, it is what GOD does. The Covenant is made at God’s initiative, it is what he offers us.
In the Bible we hear of God’s covenant with Noah, that never again will a flood destroy the earth; and the sign of the promise is the rainbow. God makes a covenant with childless Abraham, who will have so many descendants that they will number as the stars in the sky. God makes a covenant with the people of Israel wandering in the wilderness. Through Moses he gives them the Law to live by. Later, God speaks through the prophets, and gives to Jeremiah the promise of a new covenant, of a time when the people will not need to teach one another the Law, because all of them will know it in their hearts.
This is the covenant which God renews in Jesus Christ. God takes the initiative in sending Jesus Christ to us in our need. This is the heart of the gospel - not how we come to God, but how God comes to us. Not anything that we do, but what God does for us, in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And when we stand to renew our covenant we remember that what is happening here is of God’s own work and not of our own.
Secondly, it is not what we DO, but rather who we ARE that is the important thing. Who are we? We are God’s people. And that promise of a new covenant made with the house of Israel, that is with all of God’s people, ‘I will be their God and they will be my people.’ (Jer.31.33)
It is God who has made us one people through the work of the new covenant in the life, death and resurrection of Christ. The image we are given in the Gospel is that of the vine and the branches. Jesus is the vine plant we are the branches. In Christ we have all been incorporated into a living unity. God has chosen his people, the Church, to give glory to God and to make known his saving love.
We are all one in Christ, and apart from him, we cannot be a part of God’s people. And so we need to be a part of one another. As we stand and say the words of the covenant renewal, we don’t say them as individuals standing independent of one another, but as a single voice, with the voice of God’s people everywhere.
Thirdly, in making our response to God, we should keep things in perspective. We do not have to do grand things to do things for God. As Mother Theresa once said, “We can do no great things, only little things with great love.” Just because these things are not grand does not mean to say they are worthless. What we offer may be like the seed that grows into a tree. Though what we offer be small, it is not insignificant. God prospers the seed with soil to grow in, water and sun. The seed shoots and grows and in maturity brings forth fruit.
So the things that we do for God, no matter how small, we offer them to God in thanksgiving for everything he has done - and will continue to do - for us. We bring gifts from our own lives, symbolising the gift of our lives. We bring our worship, our daily living, our joys and our concerns, the things we have achieved or failed to achieve, and we offer them and ourselves for God’s use alone. And may he bless the gifts which we bring on this special day of dedication. Amen.
The Covenant
God made a covenant with the people of Israel, calling them to be a holy nation, chosen to bear witness to his steadfast love by finding delight in the law.
The covenant was renewed in Jesus Christ our Lord, in his life, work, death and resurrection. In him all people may be set free from sin and its power, and united in love and obedience.
In this covenant God promises us new life in Christ. For our part we promise to live no longer for ourselves but for God.
We meet, therefore, as generations have met before us, to renew the covenant which bound them and binds us to God.
The Covenant Promise – these words will be used in covenant several services across the circuit during January. When you say them, remember that you are saying them in unison with other members of our congregations at this time. You may wish to speak these words out loud, and to stand as you say them.
Beloved in Christ,
let us again claim for ourselves
this covenant which God has made with his people,
and take upon us the yoke of Christ.
This means that we are content
that he appoint us our place and work,
and that he himself be our reward.
Christ has many services to be done:
some are easy, others are difficult;
some bring honour, others bring reproach;
some are suitable to our natural inclinations and material interests,
others are contrary to both;
in some we may please Christ and please ourselves;
in others we cannot please Christ except by denying ourselves.
Yet the power to do all these things is given to us in Christ, who strengthens us.
Therefore let us make this covenant of God our own.
Let us give ourselves to him, trusting in his promises and relying on his grace.
Lord God, holy Father,
since you have called us through Christ to share in this gracious covenant,
we take upon ourselves with joy the yoke of obedience and, for love of you,
engage ourselves to seek and do your perfect will.
We are no longer our own but yours.
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 blessèd 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.
Blessing
Thank you for taking part in this service today.
And now may the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be with you this day and throughout the coming year. Amen.
Acknowledgments: Liturgy taken from the Covenant Service in the Methodist Worship Book (1999).
Scripture passages taken from The New Revised Standard Version, 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, with permission to use in acts of worship.
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