Jan 23 - Covenant Service

This act of worship, based with extracts from the Methodist Covenant Service, has been prepared for you by Rev Christine Fox to use at home. Within this service we will say a prayer recommitting ourselves to God. Covenant service is renewing our response to God’s covenant of love. We love God because God first loved us.

*Prayer
Glory to the God of Love, you created us; you continually preserve and sustain us; you love us with an everlasting love you give us the light of the knowledge of your glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
Blessèd be God for ever
Glory to you, Lord Jesus, You were rich, but became poor for our sake, you were tempted as we are, yet without sin, you preached the good news of the kingdom and were obedient to death, even death on a cross. You were raised from death and are alive forever. You sit at God’s right hand in glory and will come again to judge us.
Blessèd be God for ever
Glory to you, Holy Spirit, the Lord,
the Giver of Life.
By you we are born into the family of God and made members of the body of Christ. Your witness confirms us; your wisdom teaches us; your power enables us. You will do for us more than we can ask or think.
Blessèd be God for ever
To the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be praise and glory for ever. Amen. 

StF 489 all I once held dear. Frodsham Methodist Church Cloud Choir. Words and Music by Graham Kendrick (C) 1993 Graham Kendrick / Make Way Music Ltd. PO Box 320, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. TN2 9DE

​Readings
Deut 29:10-15 (Moses speaking)
Jeremiah 31:31-34 – speaking the words of the Lord

​StF 51 Great is thy faithfulness. Spring Harvest - Great is Thy Faithfulness.

Gospel Reading
Luke 4:14-21

Message

.StF 549 Come let us use the grace divine  Frodsham Methodist Church Cloud Choir.  Words by Charles Wesley Tune: Dundee (French)

*Covenant
God made a covenant with the people of Israel, calling them to be a holy nation, chosen to bear witness to his steadfast love by finding delight in the law. The covenant was renewed in Jesus Christ our Lord, in his life, work, death and resurrection. In him all people may be set free from sin and its power, and united in love and obedience. In this covenant God promises us new life in Christ. For our part we promise to live no longer for ourselves but for God. We meet today, as generations before us have done, to renew the covenant which bound them and binds us to God. Let us, then, humbly seek forgiveness for the sin by which we have denied God’s claim on us. 

*Prayers of Intercession
As we have entered this covenant not for ourselves alone, but as God’s servants and witnesses, let us pray for the Church and for the world.
Loving God, hear us as we pray for your holy catholic Church:
make us all one, that the world may believe.
Inspire and lead all who govern and hold authority in the nations of the world: establish justice and peace among all people.
Have compassion on all who suffer from any sickness, grief or trouble:
deliver them from their distress.
We praise you for all your saints who have entered your eternal glory:
bring us all to share in your heavenly kingdom.
Let us pray in silence for our own needs and for those of others...
Silence
Lord our God, you have helped us by your grace to make these prayers, and you have promised through Christ our Lord that when two or three agree in his name you will grant what they ask. Answer now your servants’ prayers according to their needs; in this world grant that we may truly know you, and in the world to come graciously give us eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

*Covenant prayer
I am no longer my own but yours. Your will, not mine, be done in all things, wherever you may place me, in all that I do and in all that I may endure; when there is work for me and when there is none; when I am troubled and when I am at peace. Your will be done when I am valued and when I am disregarded; when I find fulfilment and when it is lacking; when I have all things, and when I have nothing. I willingly offer all I have and am to serve you, as and where you choose. Glorious and blessèd God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are mine and I am yours. May it be so for ever. Let this covenant now made on earth be fulfilled in heaven. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your Name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours. Now and for ever.
Amen ​

 StF 663 I the Lord of sea and sky. Everingham Music.  Daniel L. Schutte Words and Music: © OCP Publications ​

​*Blessing and Dismissal:
The blessing of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be upon us and remain with us for ever. Amen.
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. In the name of Christ. Amen.
* Extracts from the Methodist Worship Book