Today at church we had the Covenant Service. Every year in the Methodist Church we hold a covenant service where we reaffirm the covenant we make with God - and we use the above prayer to do so. It is a very powerful, strong, and often difficult prayer in which we commit our whole selves over to God.
Before we got to this part of the service though, my minister gave a brief sermon on the gospel reading - John 15.1-8; "I am the true vine...". And she talked about how it is easy to be scared off by this prayer; this commitment. And we all, often, have times when we're scared that we're too bad, too rubbish at living out the Christian values we profess to have, too much like the part of the branch that is fit only for the chop; that somehow God's pruning would prune us all away. But Jesus says, "You are already clean - you are already pruned - because of me" (v.3). And so it is through him, that I have the power to say, "God, put me to what you will. Full, empty, with all things or with nothing... - take everything I am - I give it to you freely and wholeheartedly. You are mine and I am yours. SO BE IT." The other reason I give myself to God, is because in doing so I find life. In God is love and hope and peace and joy; and in God is abundance. Also this morning, before going to my usual church, I also went to the college Chapel and the ex-Archbishop of Canterbury (the Master at my college) was preaching, predominantly focusing on the gospel reading which was John 2.1-11; Jesus turning water into wine for the wedding in Cana. And he talked about how this is the beginning of John showing us the glory of Christ. They ended up with between 540 and 780 litres of wine - that's between 720 and 1040 bottles today's size!!! No party needs that much wine! But Jesus gives in abundance as God gives us grace in abundance too. The other thing mentioned in the sermon this morning was that Jesus took the water used for the purification rituals; something people thought they had to do in order to keep right with God. And he takes that and turns it into something that brings joy and sociability. Obviously, wine has it's limits and often too much leads to the opposite, but thankfully, God's grace and love does not. Yes, in committing myself to God I try to act in a way that exemplifies that, but I don't do this by setting endless rules for myself and being so scared to break them that I can no longer experience the abundance of joy and love that God has for me. Instead, I do this by growing ever-closer to God. The more time you spend with someone, the more their habits rub off on you too - you coin their phrases, or wash-up the way they do it. And the same is true for God. So my commitment to God begins with simply making time to be with him and grow closer to him. That is what making this covenant is about for me; becoming more "Godly" - more like God - by giving him my time and my thoughts and my heart. Today is also my birthday. The big 21! ;-D And so as I venture into this next year of my life, into "real adulthood" (!), and quite possibly into life beyond university; I pray that my life will be God's and that I will grow closer and closer to him, that he may put me to what he will and that his love and grace and pure abundance may be extended to those around me through my actions. SO BE IT.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Like the Facebook page to keep up-to-date with blog posts!
AuthorI'm a recent Cambridge Theology graduate now studying for a Masters in Biblical Studies and blogging about all sorts of things! I'm interested in faith, Church, theology, social action, the great outdoors and being creative, and all of those things - along with many more - come through in my posts!
Categories
All
Archives
April 2020
|