The Covenant Service

 THE PREPARATION

CALL TO WORSHIP:--   O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever.  (Ps.118:1).

The minister and people say together

ALL:  Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The minister reads this Introduction

 In the Covenant Service, we first remind ourselves of all that God has done and is doing for us. We recall the goodness and grace shown to us day by day, and confess that he has been faithful to the promises which he has made.

 We then examine the quality of our response. How far have we kept the promises made in Baptism and Confirmation? As we compare the great blessings, we have received from God with the poverty of our response to him, we are moved to be penitent and to renew our Covenant with God. It is true that each time we join in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, we offer ourselves again to God as a living sacrifice. In the Covenant Service however we can spend more time than in an ordinary Sunday service in preparing for this. We can recall the particular blessings we have received, can make a more searching examination of our conscience, and can consider in detail what it means for us to follow Christ our Lord.

ADORATION

The minister says,

 Let us join in adoring the Lord our God.

Minister: Let us adore God our Parent. Out of his love he has created us and all that is; He continually preserves and sustains us.

ALL: We praise you, O Lord.

Minister: God has revealed to us his glory in the life and death of his only Son; and by raising him from the dead, he promises us life with him for ever.

ALL: We praise you, O Lord.

Minister: Let us rejoice in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He came to rescue us from our fallen state; though he was rich, yet for our sake he became poor. He was tempted just as we are, but never sinned.

ALL: We praise you, O Lord.

Minister: Our Lord Jesus came to bring good news to the poor, to set at liberty those who are oppressed. For us all he became obedient to death- death on a cross. By his wounds we have been healed.

ALL: We praise you, O Lord.

Minister: Our Lord Jesus has opened the kingdom of heaven to all who trust in him. He judges us, only that he may save us; he is stern, because he loves us perfectly. He never ceases to intercede for us.

ALL: We praise you, O Lord.

Minister: Let us rejoice in the fellowship which we share in the Holy Spirit. He is the Lord, the giver of all life; by him we are born into God’s family, and assured that we are his children.

ALL: We praise you, O Lord.

Minister: The Holy Spirit is our Helper, who dwells in us. His wisdom guides us; his power enables us. He teaches us how to pray aright. He will do for us far more than we can ask or think.

ALL: We praise you, O Lord our God.

 

Period of silence for contemplation.

 

HYMN OF ADORATION:  O God our Help in ages past

 

 

THANKSGIVING

The minister says

Let us join in giving hearty thanks to our God.

Minister: O God our Parent, source of all goodness, You have blessed us, not only during the past year, but through all the days of our life. We give thanks for your love, for bringing us safely to this day and hour.

 All: We thank you, O Lord.

Minister: You set us in a world full of your glory. You give us minds to think, hands to work, and hearts to love. We are stewards of your wonderful creation.

ALL: We thank you, O Lord.

Minister: You give us family and friends. By them you teach us to receive and give love. You want us to find a sister or a brother in every human being who crosses our path.

ALL: We thank you, O Lord.

Minister: You cause us to hunger for you above all, for you alone can satisfy our hearts. Your blessed Son Jesus is himself the Way through whom we come to you.

ALL: We thank you, O Lord.

Minister:  Through Christ you enable us to overcome evil and death. In him we already taste your divine life. You bring us into the fellowship of your Church, enriching us with the gifts of your Spirit.

ALL: We thank you, O Lord.

Minister: You nourish us with your Word and Sacraments, and with all the means of grace; that together we may grow up to maturity in the likeness of Christ.

ALL: We thank you, O Lord.

Minister: In joy and sorrow your presence sustains us, in darkness, you are our light, in trouble and trial, our strength and shield.

ALL: We thank you, O Lord.

Minister: When we forget you, you do not forget us; when we abandon you, you do not abandon us; you meet us with forgiveness, as soon as we turn back to you. For your patient love and abundant grace,

ALL: With our whole heart we thank you, O Lord.

Period of silence for thankful recollection.

SELF-EXAMINATION

The minister says

Brothers and sisters, let us now examine ourselves before God. Let each of us ask the help of the Holy Spirit  that we may search our hearts in sincerity and truth. May we honestly face whatever is wrong in us.

Minister: God our Parent, you have set before us in your Son the true way of life. We confess with shame how little we have learnt from him, and how slow we are to follow him.

ALL: Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.

Minister, You show us the signs of your goodness in the glory of your creation, in the marvels revealed by science, and in the lives of your faithful servants; but we rarely lift up our eyes to see and praise. You patiently knock on the door of our heart, but we prefer to leave you standing outside.

ALL: Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.

Minister: We confess the poverty of our worship, the weakness of our faith, the selfishness of our prayers, our lack of thankfulness and joy.

ALL: Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.

Minister: For our cold reception of the means of grace, when you pour out on us your great love. For our neglect of your stern warning, that unless we forgive others, we cannot be forgiven ourselves. For practising so little in our lives of what we profess with our lips.

ALL: Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.

Minister: You call us to be salt and light in the world. But often in our unfaithfulness we conform to the world's own false ways; in cowardice we stand by, and do nothing when wrongs and evils are before our eyes.

ALL: Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.

Minister: We confess the sins of our society, for which all share the responsibility. You have made this world to be a blessing to us and to future generations; yet we care little for its pollution and wasteful exploitation.

ALL: Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.

Minister: You have provided amply for the needs of all; yet we are not ashamed that some take far too much, while many are naked and starving and sick.

ALL: Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.

Minister: You have made every human being in your image and therefore worthy of respect. But without thought we give honour to those who have wealth and power, birth and rank, and despise our sisters and brothers when they are poor and oppressed, deprived of their very humanity. If we do not recognize you in your own children, what shall we plead in the day of judgment?

 ALL: Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.

 Minister: Your Son, Jesus the Christ, gave his life to restore peace and harmony on earth, and to gather your scattered children into one, giving his Church to be a first-fruit and sign. But even the Church is divided, and its fellowship is weakened or denied. We give no message of hope to humanity.

ALL: Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.

Minister: Your Son embraced in his love every human soul; he made no difference on grounds of sex or race, caste or creed, high or low position. We confess that we still have not learnt that such distinctions deny your very name. Even within the Church, the Body of Christ, such distinctions remain.

 ALL: Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.

Minister: Your only law is to love you and each other. We cannot love you, if we do not love our neighbour. All our personal sins come to this, that we do not love as we ought to love.

ALL: Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.

Minister: We acknowledge and confess our offences against our family members, against those alongside whom we work. Against the members of your Church, against our friends and our enemies. Against those who cannot defend themselves.

ALL: Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.

Minister: We confess our pride and selfishness, our quarrels and lasting resentments, our greed and envy, our disloyalties and deceptions, our cruelty and malicious talk, our laziness and all that harms other people, all that is a denial of love.

ALL: Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.

Minister: In the Gospels, the Pharisees and hypocrites were those whom Christ rebuked most strongly. We confess we too deserve the same rebuke for our pride in being Christian, for judging others, while excusing ourselves; for despising others, no worse than ourselves; for pretending to be what we are not. May your merciful love melt our hard hearts, and teach us the true repentance, which is shown in a changed life.

ALL: Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.

Minister: Let us all in silence make our own confession to God.

 

Period of Silence

Minister: Let us now join in saying together:

All: Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit with me.

Minister: Almighty God who forgives all who forgive one another and truly repent of their sins, have mercy on us. Pardon and deliver us from all our sins, confirm and strengthen us in all goodness, and keep us in life eternal, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

All: Amen. Thanks be to God.

 

THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD

 The Old Testament Reading

Reader:                The book of the Prophet Jeremiah, Ch. 31, v. 33.

This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

This is the word of the Lord.

ALL: Thanks be to God.

The Gospel

The Gospel according to St John, Ch. 15, v. 1-8.

ALL: Glory to you, Christ Jesus.

Reader:                Jesus said: I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

This is the Gospel of Christ.

ALL: Praise to you, Lord Jesus.

SERMON 

THE COVENANT

The leader prays

LORD GOD, you have appointed our Lord Jesus Christ as Mediator of a new covenant. Give us grace to draw near with fulness of faith and join ourselves afresh in a perpetual Covenant with you, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

ALL: Amen.

 

The leader says

In the Old Covenant, God chose Israel to be his people and to obey his laws. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant, which he sealed by his own blood that it might stand for ever. We stand within this Covenant and we bear his name. On the one side, God promises in this Covenant to give us new life in Jesus Christ. On the other side, we are pledged to live no more for ourselves but for him.

 

The leader says

Beloved in Christ Jesus, let us again claim for ourselves this Covenant which God has made with his people, and take the yoke of Christ our Lord and Saviour upon us. And that he himself be our reward. To take his yoke upon us means that we are content that he appoints us our place and work. Our Lord Jesus Christ has many services to be done; some are easy, others are difficult; some bring appreciation, others bring criticism and opposition; some are in accordance with our natural inclinations and material interests, others are contrary to both. In some, we may please Christ and please ourselves, in others we cannot please Christ except by denying ourselves. Yet the power to do these things is given us in Christ our Lord, who strengthens us. Therefore, let us make this Covenant of God our own. Let us give ourselves anew to him, trusting in his promises and relying on his grace.

 

The leader says

O God, our loving Father, since you have called us through Christ our Lord to share in this gracious Covenant, we take upon ourselves with joy the yoke of obedience, and, for love of you, Commit ourselves to seek and do your perfect will. We are no longer our own, but yours.

 

ALL: I am no longer my own, but yours.  Put me to what you will, set 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. So be it. And the covenant now renewed on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.

Silence

Hymn of Dedication:  Take My Life and Let is Be Consecrated Lord to Thee

 

CONCLUSION

Lord’s Prayer:

ALL: Abba God 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. Do not bring us to the time of trial, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory now and for ever. Amen.

 

Leader: Glory to you, O God the Father; you have loved us and made us accepted in your beloved Son.

All: Glory to you, our Father.

Leader:  Glory to you, O God the Son; you have loved us and have freed us from our sins, by your own blood.

ALL: Glory to you, our Saviour.

Leader: Glory to you, O God the Holy Spirit; you shed the love of God abroad in our hearts and free us from the law of sin and death.

ALL: Glory to you, our Guide and Comforter.

 Leader: To you, the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be all love and all glory for time and for eternity.

ALL: Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, and honour and power and might, be yours for ever and ever. Amen.