Bishop's Page

Anniversaries are regularly celebrated by Methodist churches throughout the country and I have often been invited to these occasions. Just yesterday (10th Sept) I had the privilege of preaching at the 110th Anniversary of the Tamil Methodist Church, Brickfields. Like birthdays, anniversaries are times of thanksgiving and rejoicing. They remind us of God's goodness and abundant blessings to us. But is there anything more to these occasions? I would like to suggest that they should also be times of renewing our covenant with God and our commitment to Him as individuals and as churches.

What is a covenant? A covenant is an agreement or contract. A good example is the marriage covenant. Both parties promise 'to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.' Both enter into this covenant voluntarily, and undertake to keep their vows faithfully till death separates one from the other.

Many may not be aware that the covenant idea lies at the heart of both the Old and New Testaments. Beginning with the covenant with Noah (Gen 9:8-17), God takes the initiative to enter into a covenant with His people. This idea is further developed in the covenants with Abraham (Gen 15:9-21; 17:1-27), Israel through Moses (Ex 19-24), and David (2 Sam 7: 5-16), and the new covenant promised in Jeremiah (31:31-34). (See, for example, for details in NIV Study Bible, pp.18 or 19.) All these come to a climax at the Last Supper when the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, 'This is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins' (Mat 26:28). This means that the covenant which binds us to God was confirmed and sealed eternally by the sacrificial death of Christ on the Cross!

In the Old Testament, the people of Israel were called regularly to participate in covenant renewal ceremonies when they renewed their promises of obedience to God. One of the best examples of this is found in Joshua 24. Israel had been delivered from slavery in Egypt through God's mighty acts on their behalf. After Moses' death, Joshua leads them in the successful conquest of Canaan. But before the twelve tribes dispersed to settle into the different parts of the land, Joshua called them together at Shechem (Jos 24:1) to renew their covenant with God.

Church anniversaries should also be times of covenant renewal. After all God has indeed blessed us richly in many ways. At anniversaries, we regularly remind ourselves of His mercies and blessings. He has provided for us materially, blessed our churches with increasing numbers, and enabled us to grow spiritually in different ways. But we also need to ask ourselves whether we have been faithful in our obligations to God. For example, when we became members of the church, among the vows that we made included the promise to be loyal to the Methodist Church, and uphold it by our prayers, our presence, our gifts and our service. More importantly we promised 'to live a Christian life and always remain a faithful member of Christ's holy Church.'

Anniversary services should indeed be times of self-examination, both individually and as a church. We need to ask ourselves hard questions.

For example, while we have grown rich in material things, have we also grown rich in spiritual things?

God gave us the church to be a community, as a place wherein we can love one another and through which we bear witness to God's love to the world. But have we wrecked this community through party politics, fights over property that God has so generously given us, and self-seeking ambitions of all sorts for personal gain?

God gave us family life to bless us with homes to nurture the young and a place of warmth and security to shelter us from the coldness and harshness of the surrounding world. But have some of us been hell bent on doing the very things which has led to increasing disorder in family life?

God gave us voices to sing His praises and to bless others with words of encouragement and comfort. But have we ended up despoiling this wonderful gift through lying, gossip, slander, cursing and swearing?

God has given us so much, including His Son who died for us to give us life eternal. But have we given back to God only the crumbs from our tables and lives? How many of us, for example, are tithing regularly? And in the midst of the great need for ministers of the gospel in our church today, how many of us have been willing to give ourselves or our children for the ministry when God came calling?

These may be hard questions. But if anniversaries are to be occasions by which the church is empowered to grow spiritually, rather than mere moments of celebration over past achievements, then such honest heart searching cannot be avoided. Joshua had to challenge Israel with the simple question, 'Choose this day whom you will serve'! And this choice is one that must be made afresh again and again in our lives, not least at our anniversaries.

Actually what many of us Methodists may have forgotten is that John Wesley had made a similar emphasis in the Covenant Service he designed, though this is meant to be used at the turn of each new year. But the concern is exactly the same, which is the need for us to renew our covenant with God and our commitment to Him on a regular basis. We do well to pay attention to the details of this service again (see The Book of Discipline, 2004, Para. 1510, pp.224-227). Let me therefore end this by quoting a passage from Wesley's service, wherein we are challenged to surrender ourselves afresh to God and give Him our obedience.

'Beloved in Christ, let us again claim for ourselves this Covenant which God has made with His people, and take the yoke of Christ upon us. To take His yoke upon us means that we are content that He appoints us our place and work, and that He Himself be our reward.

Christ has many services to be done; some are easy, others are difficult; some bring honour, others bring reproach; some are suitable to our natural inclinations and material interests, others are contrary to both. In some we may please Christ and please ourselves; in others we cannot please Christ except by denying ourselves. Yet the power to do all these things is assuredly given us in Christ, who strengthens us.

Therefore let us make this Covenant of God our own. Let us give ourselves anew to Him, and resolve in His strength never to go back. Being thus prepared, let us now, in sincere dependence on His grace and trusting in His promises, yield ourselves anew to Him, our faithful God and loving Father.'