John Wesley’s Covenant Prayer

My husband often listens to Ferguson Sinclair podcasts. Dr. Sinclair is a Scottish theologian. Recently Jeff told me to listen to a short piece Dr. Sinclair did on John Wesley’s Covenant Prayer, which has been used at New Year’s services within the Methodist tradition for well over two centuries. Here is the text: 

Wesley revised this from a Puritan prayer. He appeared to be using it in congregational settings as early as 1755, and the earliest print version we know of came in 1780. In the Methodist tradition, it is a yearly affirmation of our covenant with God, the giving of every aspect of our lives to Him. 

It was deeply moving to me the first time I heard it (and in Mr. Sinclair’s Scottish accent!), but my husband also shared it with me for another reason. You see, my current work in progress is about a preaching college set up in the colony of Georgia on the eve of the American Revolution. The woman behind the endeavor, Selina, the Dowager Countess of Huntingdon, accepted Jesus as her savior after hearing John Wesley preach. She maintained a close relationship with him and his brother Charles for many years. Given that relationship, along with the fact that from what I’ve read of Lady Huntingdon she would heartily agree with everything expressed in the prayer, I hope to add this text as the front piece to my novel, for not only is it historically accurate, it also completely expresses the journey of the main character in the novel, a woman who came from England to work at the college. 

And yes, all of this is based on the real history of a place and its people. I hope to share this entire story with you in the near future. For now, I will keep this beautiful prayer before me to remind me whose I am and why I write. 

I hope these words speak as deeply to you as they do to me.