Covenant in Jesus Christ

 

Dear friends,

As we approach our Covenant Service, I invite you to reflect on how the Covenant Prayer is not just a personal act of surrender but also a powerful call to join God in the work of transformation and justice. Under the Conference theme “Becoming an Alternative Community,” this prayer challenges us to live as God’s people—set apart, courageous, and deeply committed to reflecting God’s Kin-dom in these dark and challenging times.

The Covenant Prayer: An Invitation to Becoming an Alternative Community.

This year may, we hear words of the Covenant Prayer calling us to become an alternative community and inviting us to step into God’s mission with open hearts and hands:

“Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will.”
These words remind us that following God often means serving in unexpected ways and standing with those society overlooks. It’s a call to embrace the values of justice, mercy, and humility, even when it’s uncomfortable.

“Let me be employed by you or laid aside for you.”
We are called to trust God’s purpose, whether in visible acts of justice or quiet, behind-the-scenes support for others.

“Let me have all things, let me have nothing.”
This challenges us to let go of personal ambition or material attachment and instead pursue what truly matters—restoring hope, healing, and dignity to all people.

The Covenant Prayer is bold and challenging, but it is also deeply hopeful. It reminds us that we are not alone—God equips and strengthens us for this work. Together, let us commit to becoming an alternative community that reflects Christ’s love and justice in every area of life.

May the Spirit guide and inspire you as we prepare to renew our covenant with God and step into God’s transformative mission.

Grace and Peace, Sikawu

Love, make me bolder

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, wrote a poem ‘Bleak Weather’. Inspired by the poem, Stephen Berg another renowned poet composed the following prayer poem:

Love, make me bolder.

Bold to take myself less seriously, so to take beauty, kindness, mercy, more seriously.

Bold to recall, under the tyranny of all our applied technology, that we are still in swaddling clothes, still coming into being, that the slow magic of creation is still proceeding.

Bold, in the stricture of our visual culture, to honor the invisible, repose within mystery, and tend the garden of the inner-life.

Bold to hold things loosely. To release what constricts the spirit and sours the soul.

Bold to leave this room, this house, this earth, more caring and hospitable than I found it—grateful for the sublime luck to have touched another soul. And for this to be enough.

Love, make me bolder. Willing to listen with the ear of the heart, to stand under your gaze, and be open to change.

Love, may my actions bear you witness.

Prayers of grace and peace to everyone, Sikawu.