A Reminder From John Wesley

I took a selfie of me and John Wesley. Really. Well, sort of really.

This morning the Indiana Lake Nazarene Camp began their celebration of 100 years in ministry. To kick off the celebration the worship service at the Tabernacle this morning featured a guest appearance by John Wesley. It was a special presentation by B. J. Johnston entitled the “The Man from Aldersgate.” Johnston dressed and spoke as John Wesley. It was quite interesting to see John Wesley come alive. Much of what Johnston did was quote verbatim from Wesley’s Journals. It was quite impressive and it served to introduc Wesley to a younger generation.

Towards the end of the presentation, Wesley prayed for us. Instantly I recognized it as John Wesley’s famous “Covenant Prayer.” This prayer was a covenantal prayer which was to be embraced by all brought into the Methodist church during a special Covenant Service.  I have used the prayer several times in my ministry in various churches. This powerful prayer goes like this:

“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. So be it.
And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.”

The service today brought back this prayer to me in a powerful way. I suspect that if Christians everywhere could just embrace this prayer and endeavor to live it out, the church would experience radical transformation.

By the way, just to prove I was with Wesley this morning I grabbed him and took a selfie with my iPhone.