Thursday, February 14, 2013

A thought for today as Lent begins


Good morning.
 
This is a prayer known as "Wesley's Covenant Prayer." It is a prayer adapted by John Wesley for use in services for the "Renewal of the Believer's Covenant with God." The words of that original covenant prayer 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. I pray they will inspire and encourage you as we begin Lent today.
 
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 by you,
or laid aside by you,
exalted by you or brought low by you.
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 your pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you are mine, and I am yours.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
Let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.
 
Pastor Kenneth Q. JamesPsalm 119:33-34
"Let truth, the light of my heart, speak to me, and not my own darkness!"
Augustine, Confessions, Book XII, Chapter 10