Friday, October 15, 2010

This is not an easy prayer...

In thinking of the importance of the smaller group leaders and the youth workers in our church I have been doing some reading.  In that reading, I came across this prayer I have heard before...it's worth sharing.  It's typically used in an annual "Covenant Service" by the Methodist Church, where all commit together to following hard after Christ.  But as I read it I was reminded of Paul's attitude towards service to God, willing to accept whatever God brought his way.

I want this to be my prayer...even if it is in old English!

I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
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 thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen. 


—as used in the Book of Offices of the British Methodist Church, 1936. 

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