New Year’s Resolutions
Our City Centre Minister, Judith Marshall, shares some comfort in the season of New Years Resolutions…
January; the start of a new year. A time of looking forward, of making New Year’s Resolutions. I wonder – have you made any this year? Maybe you resolved to learn a new skill, eat more healthily, exercise more, give something up, or spend more time with loved ones.
The big question is - by the time you read this, be it days, weeks or months after making your resolution, have you managed to keep it?!
I gave up making New Year’s Resolutions a while ago, for this very reason. I start off with good intentions, but they never seem to last long. And I’m not alone - New Year’s Resolutions are notorious for being abandoned.
The Methodist Church offers a distinctive approach to New Year renewal through their Covenant Service. Often taking place in January, this service invites people to renew their covenant relationship with God. (What’s a ‘covenant’ you may ask? Well, it’s like an agreement, or contract, like one made in marriage for example.)
The Covenant Prayer which is central to the Covenant service, is a prayer which expresses a willingness to be wholly available to God, irrespective of personal desires or circumstances. It reads:
“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 blessed 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.”
This might seem like a tough read and a hard promise to make. And, at first read, much like a New Year’s Resolution – seemingly impossible to keep. And it most probably is - if we do it on our own. Thankfully, the Covenant Prayer is possible when we factor in being in relationship and the gift of grace.
The Covenant Prayer is said in community - with each other, but more importantly in community, in relationship with God. We are submitting ourselves to God, but it is not a one-sided relationship. There is mutuality; “You are mine and I am yours”. We belong to each other.
Every time we are honest in this relationship; honest both with ourselves and with God, we can start again, like a clean slate. We can choose to say, ‘yes, I fall short, but I trust in God’s grace to lift me back up again’.
God’s grace is at the very heart of the covenant and indeed our lives of faith. It is an unearned gift, freely given, that meets us in our weaknesses and failings. Grace assures us that, even when we falter or make mistakes, God’s love and acceptance remain constant. It is this grace that empowers us to begin anew, to forgive ourselves and others, and to trust that God’s strength will carry us where our own efforts fall short. It is this grace that upholds us as we make our Covenant Prayer.
And maybe we can follow that same premise when it comes to any New Year’s Resolutions we may make and give ourselves a little grace. Nadia Bolz-Weber[1] suggests we should skip the New Year’s Resolutions where we resolve to be better, do better and look better, and instead remind ourselves that “there is no Resolution that, if kept, will make us more worthy of love”.
God loves us because He loves us because He loves us because He loves us. God’s grace not only offers this covenant relationship with Him but gives us the ability to keep it.
Left to our own devices we will fail; however God promises to remain faithfully by our side, offering continual support and love. As we step into a New Year, perhaps the real invitation is not to strive for perfection, but to rest in the assurance of God’s unwavering presence and grace. In this relationship, we can find hope, resilience, and the courage to begin again, trusting that every day brings a fresh opportunity to walk with God and with one another.