At the Roots of Methodism: Covenant services mark new year
At the Roots of Methodism: Covenant services mark new year
Jan. 28, 2004
A UMNS Feature By John Singleton*
John Wesley
John Wesley (oil painting)
As a new year begins, many congregations around the world perform the Methodist Covenant Service, a practice that dates back to the movement's founder, John Wesley.
On
many occasions, Wesley urged that an opportunity be provided for
Methodists to make, or renew, their "covenant" with God. His first
formal covenant service was held in 1755 at the French Church (borrowed
for the occasion to accommodate large numbers), situated in the
Spitalfields area of east London.
This is what Wesley wrote in his journal about the event:
"I
mentioned to the congregation another means of increasing serious
religion which had been frequently practiced by our forefathers, namely,
the joining in a covenant to serve God with all our heart and with all
our soul. I explained this for several mornings, and on Friday, many of
us kept a fast to the Lord, beseeching him to give us wisdom and
strength, to make a promise unto the Lord our God and keep it.
"On Monday...I explained once more the nature of such an engagement and the manner of doing it acceptably to God.
"At
six in the evening we met for that purpose. After I had recited the
tenor of the covenant proposed, all those who desired to give testimony
of their entrance into this covenant stood up, to the number of about
1,800 persons. Such a night I scarce ever saw before. Surely the fruit
of it shall remain forever."
The
building in which the historic covenant service took place still stands
in Spitalfields, although it has never been a feature on London's
Methodist heritage trail. Spital Yard, the birthplace of Susanna
Annesley (John's mother), is about as far east of historic Wesley's
Chapel as most Methodist pilgrims tend to venture. This is a pity,
because the former French chapel is only a short distance away.
Situated
on the corner of Fournier Street and Brick Lane, the building
symbolizes the successive waves of immigrants who have arrived in the
east end of London over several hundred years - many escaping
persecution in their homelands. Having arrived, they became a settled
community with their own trades and cultural identity. Most existed in
dire poverty, which was only diluted by charity, self-help and
entrepreneurship
Originally
a Huguenot church, built by French Protestants in 1743, the building
served not only as a site for the first covenant service but also for
other large events that Wesley held later.
In
the 1790s, the London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews
took over the building. But by 1809, 18 years after Wesley's death, it
was serving as a Methodist church - a use that continued for nearly 90
years.
A
century later, in 1897, the building was re-consecrated as the Great
Synagogue for the Machzike Hadath community of eastern European Jews,
who had fled the pogroms and found work in the garment trades so
prevalent in the Spitalfields area.
In
1976, the building became host to yet another group of worshippers,
this time the incoming Bengali community, who transformed it into what
is now the London Jamme Masjid mosque. And so the area was changed yet
again.
Wesley
himself was well aware of the awful living conditions east of Wesley's
Chapel and the Foundry. Writing after one of his many visits to the
area, he spoke of "such poverty as few can conceive without seeing it."
Fortunately, Methodism's later departure from the historic Spitalfields
church did not signal the end of its presence in that part of east
London.
Times
have changed, but Methodist work and witness in the great tradition of
Wesley's concern for the poor, the homeless and the stranger in east
London, continues today. In the words of the Methodist Covenant Service,
which has become a gift from Wesley's tradition to many other
denominations:
"Christ
has many services to be done; some are easy, others are difficult; some
bring honor, 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 given us in Christ, who strengthens us ..."
*Singleton is a writer with the weekly Methodist Recorder newspaper in London. He can be contacted by e-mail at john@towerhamlets.org.
News media contact: Tim Tanton · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn.
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