2012 Covenant – Happy New Year!
Part of how I ended 2011 was with a Communion Service at my church. I was most moved and encouraged by this portion of the service and decided to share it with you. I don’t know where it comes from, some book of prayers I’m sure. I’m not sure that I am totally there with the response, but my heart hopes it will be.
I wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year.
Leader:
Christ has many tasks for us.
Some are easy; some are difficult.
Some bring honor; some bring reproach.
Some are to our liking, and coincide with our own inclinations,
And are in our immediate best interest;
Some are just the opposite.
In some we may please Christ and please ourselves;
In others we cannot please Christ except by denying ourselves.
Yet the power to take on all these
Is most definitely given us in Jesus; for it is he who strengthens us,
And comes to us when we are weak.
Let us say Yes to the covenant that he makes with us.
Response:
I am no longer my own, but Yours.
Use me as you choose;
Rank me alongside whoever you choose;
Let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you;
Raised up for you, or brought down low for you;
Let me be full, let me be empty;
Let me have all things, let me have nothing;
With my whole heart I freely choose to yield
All things to your ordering and approval.
So now, God of glory,
Father, Song, and Holy Spirit,
You are mine, and I am your own.
He makes things happen in His way, not ours.
Good way to begin the year!
I can think of no better way to start the new year! Blessing to you and yours, Sheila.