Fresh starts and covenants- Friday Five

Sally wrote, "As I prepare this post I am aware that it will be posted on New Years Day. We stand at the beginning of 2010 looking not only at a New Year, but at a new decade full of promise and possibilities. For some of us this will be exciting, but others will approach it with trepidation and probably most of us stand on this threshold with a mix of emotions and reactions.

It is at this time of year that many (British) Methodist Churches celebrate their Annual Covenant Service, a service that will include this prayer:

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 for you,
or laid aside for you,
exalted for you,
or brought low for you;
let me be full,
let me be empty,
let me have all things,
let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now glorious and blessed God,
Father , Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours.
May it be so forever.
Let this covenant now made on earth
be fulfilled in heaven. AMEN

This prayer is said every year, and offers every member an opportunity to renew their covenant with God. This is no soft or easy prayer, it states in the company of others our willingness to worship God come what may, not that we should become doormats, but that we place God above all else. ( And every year if we are honest we have to acknowledge that we fail).

With this prayer in mind I bring you this Friday Five:"


1. What will you gladly leave behind in 2009?

-I leave behind looking for a place to live, another place to live as that place is found. I also leave behind the work of couple counseling, not that we have finished, but the 'heavy lifting' is done and that made buying a place possible after years of looking. It also helped the Beloved and me to communicate better on a number of subjects, the largest of which was buying a place to live!

2. What is the biggest challenge of 2010 for you?

I guess that would be: 1. Making that house a home. and 2. reconciling work with less stress. I have to remember it's just a job and my counselors are not my children, although they feel like what children might feel like!

3. Is there anything that you simply need to hand to God and say "all will be well, for you are with me"?

Finding my place of worship. I have my SFX girls, so they fulfill me for the moment.

4. If you could only achieve one thing in 2010 what would it be?

See part 1. of # 2. Making a house a home.

5. Post a picture, poem or song that sums up your prayer for the year ahead....

5. Friday Five