Covenant Prayer Project

Ok word nerds and theology geeks.  I am working on a Confirmation Retreat that I'm running in March, and I would like to use the Wesleyan Covenant Prayer in our closing worship.  The challenge is that while I don't want to dumb down the language and theology for youth, I would like to find more accessible language.  (I am well aware that sometimes I think language is beautiful and accessible only to find that my audience thinks its boring).  So I went to work paraphrasing, and I would love to get some feedback, suggestions, etc.  I'll put my version, and the version in contemporary language from the General Board of Discipleship website.  There are some words like "exalted" that I didn't want to get rid of, but I wasn't sure if they were too churchy.  What do you think?


My version:
I’m not my own anymore, I’m yours.

I’ll take any assignment, I’ll accept any status.

If something needs to be done, I’ll do it.

If you ask me to suffer, I’ll get through it.

I’ll be employed for you, or laid off for you.

Raised up for you, or brought low for you.

Whether I’m full or empty, 

whether I have everything or nothing,

freely, with my whole heart,

I give everything to you

to use as you please.

And now,

Glorious and blessed God

Father, Son and Holy Spirit

You are mine and I am yours.

So be it. 

This covenant is made on earth,

But let it be signed and sealed in heaven.

Amen.

Contemporary Version:

I am no longer my own by 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.

No blogging?

Ok, I just said that I was impressed at the efforts to include young people, but I also wanted to comment on the fact that it seems like the church doesn't get young people at all. As often happens, "including" seems to mean inviting people to show up and speak, but without being culturally accommodated. In our attempts to be a global church, we often forget to speak slow enough or provide interpreters for those who do not speak English (and things generally operate in English), and we forget to make space for people who are culturally more hesitant to step up to the microphone. (Although today one of the Bishops did ask people who are white or older to pause and allow space for youth, young adults, and people of color to step up first).

But lets get back to the youth. I was having a conversation with someone last night, and we were talking about the laptop and cell phone ban as a sign of the cultural age divide. I am sure these things are considered a distraction, but for us they are a way of life. I was planning on blogging throughout Jurisdictional Conference as a way of connecting people to the process (and a way for me to process the experience). Teens are often out of hand with texting, but one of our youth delegates was texting all day yesterday - to our Conference YPM Director. This was his way of responding and reacting to the candidate interviews. Personally, I can't sit still for more than two hours without multi-tasking or I will lose focus. If I had my laptop during the 13 interviews yesterday, I could have been googling the candidates, looking for more info on them, reading their blogs, etc. These rules about electronics are hardly a human rights violation, but they are another way that the next generation is subjected to the social norms of the previous generation.