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Keeping the Covenant
The first Sunday of January has come and gone and once again I led the congregation in praying the Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition. I have long admired this prayer and recommend its use as a way of reminding ourselves that our true devotion is to God and Jesus rather than to ourselves and our personal ambitions.
Years ago a clergy colleague called me. She was very distressed at a new appointment she was asked to accept. She felt that the suggested appointment was unworthy of her skills. She asked for my opinion. Being happy with my own situation at the time, I found it easy to suggest that she pray the Covenant Prayer. I remember that she did not find my suggestion very helpful. It is one thing to pray this prayer when we are happy with the circumstances of the moment. It is quite another thing to pray this prayer when life has suddenly turned in a way we never expected or when we come to the realization that some long held dream will never be realized.
Life has turned in a way Terry and I never expected. We look to the future and we wonder just which of our dreams are now in jeopardy. I think back on that long ago phone conversation and wonder if I can now take my own advice.
Answers to these musings remain to be discovered. I do know that I have repeated this prayer daily in the past two weeks. It is part of a fake it 'til you make it strategy. These are words by which I sincerely wish to live. It is just that in this moment I am still troubled by the loss. Call it grief if you will. I have learned that grief need not wait until a loved one dies. Grief comes at the death or the anticipated death of any of the loves and hopes and dreams we harbor in our hearts. For the moment the prayer does contain one section I can pray with sincerity, "And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it."
Dave Gladstone