Covenant Renewal Service

The Covenant Renewal Service, or simply called the Covenant Service,[1] was adapted by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, for the purpose of the renewal of the Christian believer's covenant with God.

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Congregations of various Methodist Churches often observe the Covenant Renewal Service during the watchnight service of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, in order to renew one's commitment to Christ and the Church at the start of the year.[2] It includes hymns, prayers, Scripture lessons, a sermon, and Holy Communion.[3]

In his Short history of the people called Methodists,[4] Wesley describes the first covenant service; a similar account is to be found in his Journal of the time.[5] Wesley says that the first service was held on Monday 11 August 1755, at the French church at Spitalfields in London, with 1800 people present. He reports that he "recited the tenor of the covenant proposed, in the words of that blessed man, Richard Alleine".[6]

The covenant prayer and service are recognised as one of the most distinctive contributions of Methodism to the liturgy of Protestantism in general, and they are also used from time to time by other Christian denominations.

Origins

The origins of the covenant prayer have been the subject of some scholarly discussion.[7] While Wesley attributes it to the English puritan Alleine, influences of German pietistic have also been claimed, and also (less frequently) echoes of the High Church tradition from which Wesley sprang. The original words are lost, but are thought to be reflected in the Directions for Renewing our Covenant with God which Wesley issued as a pamphlet in 1780.

Modern usage

Services using the covenant prayer have been included in most Methodist books of liturgy since, though none was included in The Sunday Service of the Methodists; With Other Occasional Services book that Wesley published in 1784 for the use of his followers in America. Perhaps for this reason, while the Covenant service has been an invariable part of the liturgy of the British Methodist Church and its daughter churches in the Commonwealth, its use is less widespread in American Methodist denominations: Referring to the United Methodist Church, Charles R. Hohenstein notes that "covenant services are seldom encountered these days".[8]

Although Wesley's early covenant services were not held at any particular time of year, in British Methodism the custom soon developed of holding Covenant services near the beginning of the New Year, nowadays often on the first Sunday of the year.[1] This was perhaps under the influence of the Methodist tradition of holding watchnight services on New Year's Eve, which are done to welcome the coming year with the blessing of God rather than with "drunken revelry".[9]

The form of the covenant prayer and service have been simplified since Wesley's time, but important elements of them are still retained from Wesley's Directions. They include many of the words both of the bidding that traditionally precedes the prayer, and the prayer itself. The bidding traditionally includes phrasing such as:

...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 temporal interests, others are contrary to both... Yet the power to do all these things is given to us in Christ, who strengthens us.

In the 1920s, Wesleyan Methodist minister George B. Robson expanded the form of the Covenant Service by replacing most of the exhortation with prayers of adoration, thanksgiving and confession. Robson's Covenant Service was revised and officially authorised for use in the Book of Offices (1936). Further revisions, strengthening the link with Communion and intercession for the wider church and the world, appeared in the Methodist Service Book (1975) and Methodist Worship Book (1999).

In 2012, a new worship resource titled Worship and Song was published by Abingdon Press. Worship and Song is a collection of 190 songs from around the world, as well as prayers and other liturgical resources. It contains a musical version of Wesley's prayer; the music was composed by ministers Adam F. Seate and Jay D. Locklear.

The Prayer
Traditional
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.

(as used in the Book of Offices of the British Methodist Church, 1936).

Modern[10]
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 blessed 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.

(as used in the Methodist Worship Book, 1999)

See also

Footnotes
  1. "The Covenant Service". Methodist Church in Britain. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  2. Harnish, James A.; LaRosa, Justin (5 June 2018). A Disciple's Path Companion Reader: Deepening Your Relationship with Christ and the Church. Abingdon Press. p. 74. ISBN 9781501858154.
  3. "Watch Night of Freedom". Discipleship Ministries. 2007. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  4. Wesley (1841, pp. 319)
  5. Wesley (1829, pp. 339)
  6. Wesley (1829, pp. 290)
  7. Parkes (1997, pp. 176)
  8. Hohenstein (1997)
  9. Anna M. Lawrence (5 May 2011). One Family Under God: Love, Belonging, and Authority in Early Transatlantic Methodism. University of Pennsylvania Press. In 1740, Wesley started watch-night services for the coal miners of the Kingswood area, offering this nocturnal worship as a godly alternative to spending their evenings in ale-houses. The watch-night services consisted of singing, praying, exhorting, and preaching for a number of hours. Wesley meant to establish it as a monthly practice, always at full moon to keep the meeting well lit. In America, this service often supplanted times of traditional drunken revelry, like New Year's Eve and Christmas Eve.
  10. "A covenant with God". Methodist Church in Britain. Retrieved 6 January 2014.

References
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