The New Year is a time when we often have an aspiration to change something in our lives for the better, but we can have so many good intentions that we lose track of some of the most important things we’ve committed ourselves to, they can get buried in what can seems like an endless barrage of demands on our time and energy.

At the beginning of every year as a congregation we remind ourselves of the Covenant of Grace that God has made with us through Christ and the Covenant that we’ve been called into by Him

Covenant Service Declaration

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.

So be it.

And the covenant now made on earth,

Let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen

The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,

Eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light,

True God from true God, Begotten, not made, of one being with the Father.

Through Him were all things made.

For us and for our salvation He came down from heaven:

By the power of the Holy Spirit He became incarnate from the virgin Mary,

And was made a man.

For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

He suffered death and was buried.

On the third day He rose again in accordance with the scriptures;

He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,

And His Kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,

Who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son

He is worshiped and glorified.

He has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic (meaning ‘universal’ not Roman Catholic) and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

Amen.