Over the next twelve months BUGB President John Weaver will reflect in his monthly blog.

January 2009

New Year Resolutions or Covenant?

We start each New Year with talk of new beginnings and New Year’s resolutions. Churches often mark the New Year with a covenant service – a recommitment to God and to each other. In the church of which I am a member we say together:

This day we give ourselves again to the Lord and to each other, to be bound together in fellowship, for the sake of the mission and glory of God.

Celebrating our shared life, we affirm our purpose to reflect God’s love in our church, community and world. We commit ourselves to belonging and working together in our congregation, our Association, and our Union of churches. We pledge all that we have and all that we are to fulfil God's purposes of love.

Through covenants such as this we make promises to God and commitments to each other as the church of Christ. In this New Year, let us all covenant to be the church of Jesus Christ, the church that Jesus died to establish and calls us to join.

We are invited to be alive in Christ.

So, let us promise to deny self, take up the cross-shaped life of sacrificial love, and follow Jesus – to imitate his life (Mark 8:34).

We are invited to become part of his body, the Church.

So, let us promise to commit ourselves to our sisters and brothers in Christ, to not give up meeting together as some are doing (Hebrews 10:25), to love with a Christ-like love that emphasizes the positive (1 Corinthians 13:4-8), and to pray with and support those with whom we worship and serve (Romans 12:9-16).

We are invited to share in Christ’s mission in and for the world.

So, let us share God’s concern for the poor and the disadvantaged (Luke 4:18-19), endeavouring to respect and care for creation, and seeking to work for peace in all our relationships.

Covenant services often centre on the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Each time we do this we are renewing our commitment to Christ, to each other, and to our calling to be Christ wherever we live and work. This should force us to move away from “my” likes and dislikes and what “I” get out of church, and help us to recognize the Body of Christ both in our fellow church members, and the world as the location of Christ’s redemptive mission.

It is here, in the supper, that the meaning of the cross can most clearly be seen as Christ’s own self-giving, which should be mirrored in our relationships within his church. In our celebration of the covenant in bread and wine we have the opportunity for thanksgiving, feasting, sharing, reconciling, forgiving, healing, and serving. This should then shape our character and the character of our fellowship.

In our covenanting with God we find forgiveness – peace in the presence of Christ in our life; we make a personal re-commitment to God; and we pursue an inward spirituality – our growth in Christ.

In our covenant together we find reconciliation – through the giving and receiving of the peace; we commit ourselves to ‘walk together and watch over each other in love’; and we develop an outward spirituality through mission and discipleship in our life and work.

So let us start this New Year with covenant rather than resolutions.

John Weaver