January Newsletter Article

I will write again today, but since the newsletter came out, I figured I'd post that article here as well:

I consider myself a third-generation denominational immigrant of sorts. You see, my family is one of the many in this area whose United Methodist roots trace back not to Wesley and English settlers, but rather to Otterbein and the Germans who become known (after several mergers and splits of their own) as the Evangelism United Brethren Church. It was only in 1968 that we became Methodists—we like to say we “united” the Methodists, in fact!

Many in my grandfather’s generation (the ones who led the EUB Church through that transition) remember how they often found themselves more familiar with Wesley and Methodism’s roots than many of the Methodists they joined. Perhaps the EUB Church’s interest in Wesley was a replacement for that which they could not know about Otterbein (tradition has it that he ordered nearly all his papers destroyed before or shortly after his own death). So we EUBs have, I think, a vested interest in continuing to tell forth the stories of Wesley.

One of the practices that I am happy has now become part of our shared tradition is what our United Methodist Hymnal (#607) calls “A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition.” Indeed, it is our practice to return to this prayer at the start of each new year. Adapted from John Wesley, the prayer reads:

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.

For me, these words speak not only of a personal commitment, but also of the very faith and commitment that makes these words a part of my tradition. For the EUBs to let go of their own self-identity took a great deal of courage, no doubt strife, but also a confidence that our stories are not about what we do, but about what God calls us to do as part of God’s ever-unfolding kingdom. One Methodist leader in 1968 said the Methodists would swallow up the EUBs. And perhaps they have. But that was never the most important issue.

I think the example of our EUB forbearers indeed lives out this covenant prayer, and gives us all guidance for how we can live these words ourselves. As we begin 2010, are we focused on where God is calling us—content to do, be, or have whatever God wills? Are we confident that God will be with us even as we enter new arenas? Are we willing to live out God’s call to empty ourselves that God might fill our lives?

New Years resolutions are great, but they are very small things compared with a willingness to once again commit ourselves to do, be, and have whatever this day may bring, that by humbling ourselves, God might be able to do incredible things. I pray that each of us—and all of us together—might be able to live up to the words of this prayer in this new year. In so doing, we just might offer as powerful of a witness as those who have come before us.