It is that time in the life of all Methodists that we come together as people of God and rededicate our commitment, reconnect with Him and publicly declare Him as Lord and Saviour of our lives. Covenant was basic to John Wesley’s understanding of Christian discipleship.
He saw the relationship with God in Covenant as being like a marriage between human beings (both as a community and as individuals) on the one side and God in Christ on the other (cf. Ephesians 5.21-33). His original Covenant Prayer involved taking Christ as “my Head and Husband, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, for all times and conditions, to love, honour and obey thee before all others, and this to the death”.
Over a number of years Wesley gradually saw the need for some regular ceremony which would enable people to open themselves to God more fully. He looked for some means of helping them to hear God’s offer and challenge ever more deeply, and to allow God to prompt and enable them to respond. He therefore insisted that the Covenant Service be located in a framework of pastoral care, preaching and guidance. This framework dealt with the corporate needs of a particular society of Christian disciples, and within that with the needs of individuals within that group. It therefore linked personal devotion with corporate worship.
Let us therefore, partake in this solemn and sacred moment with the One who created us as we endeavor to be that which He intended us to be. I wish you and yours strength, protection, love, and blessed year ahead full of many God given possibilities.
Shalom
Moagi