This Sunday our gospel reading (John 15:1-10) has Jesus comparing us to branches that must remain connected to the vine if they want to experience life and bear fruit. The passage from John is the set reading for our covenant service (first instituted by John Wesley in 1755) which provides an annual opportunity to renew our commitment to the Vine and the Gardener who tends the vineyard. To help us all prepare for worship here are the words of the all-encompassing promise that we will be making once again on Sunday:
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.