A New Year & New Covenants Friday Five

I rarely get to play the Friday Five anymore, but I can today. One of my favorite bloggers, Sally from Eternal Echoes, hosts the Rev Gal FF today, and she says:

We stand at the beginning of 2010 looking not only at a New Year, but at a new decade full of promise and possibilities. For some of us this will be exciting, but others will approach it with trepidation and probably most of us stand on this threshold with a mix of emotions and reactions.It is at this time of year that many (British) Methodist Churches celebrate their Annual Covenant Service, a service that will include this prayer:

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.
May it be so forever.
Let this covenant now made on earth
be fulfilled in heaven.
AMEN

This prayer is said every year, and offers every member an opportunity to renew their covenant with God. This is no soft or easy prayer, it states in the company of others our willingness to worship God come what may, not that we should become doormats, but that we place God above all else. ( And every year if we are honest we have to acknowledge that we fail).With this prayer in mind I bring you this Friday Five:

First off, I am going to pray that prayer mindfully and intentionally and savoring every line. I know I mean some of it, but perhaps not all of it. Thank so much, Sally, for sharing it.

The questions are:

1. What will you gladly leave behind in 2009?

All of it. 2009 was a difficult year that started with my mother's death, went on to include my resignation from my church (difficult and absolutely necessary), watching Ken struggle with physical stuff that included a serious and scary leg infection...and much more. Except for Kris' and her little family moving to Wisconsin, I am happy to wave good bye in the rear view mirror to 2009.

2. What is the biggest challenge of 2010 for you?

Balancing work, home, ministry efforts--I have to put some serious work into it if I want to use my ministerial credentials in any meaningful way. And time is a factor, and energy, and much more. But it is not or maybe not ever...

3. Is there anything that you simply need to hand to God and say "all will be well, for you are with me"?

My disappointment with myself, my sadness at not being in active ministry, my sense of loss...it all needs to be put in God's hands and LEFT there.

4. If you could only achieve one thing in 2010 what would it be?

To stop struggling and to be genuinely content in whatever place I find myself.

5. Post a picture, poem or song that sums up your prayer for the year ahead....

Okay. Here are a picture and a song.