Our story today really begins almost 75 years earlier, with the wicked Manasseh's succession to the throne.  He reigned longer than any other king in Israel’s history - 55 years. Among his transgressions (and there were many) was Manasseh's blatant worship of idols and his practice of pagan rituals. (From II Chronicles 33:6). "And he caused his children to pass through the fire; also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger"     

When God's patience had run out, he sent the Assyrians to punish Jerusalem. They put a hook in Manasseh's nose and bound him in bronze shackles and carried him off to prison in Babylon.

It was sometime in his dreary cell that he came to his senses and called upon the Lord, and God had mercy “and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God" (II Chronicles 33:13).

Manasseh displayed his conversion by starting repairs to the city wall and ridding Jerusalem of foreign gods.  He dies soon after beginning the reconstruction, and his son Amnon rules just two years, when Amnon’s son, Josiah, just a boy 8 years old comes to power. 

We don’t know much about the first 17 years of his kingship.  I suppose he was simply growing up.  We assume the repairs to the city damaged by the Assyrians continued, and in Josiah’s 18^th year, the young King turns his attention to Temple repairs. 

During those repairs, the Temple priest Hilkiah found a dusty old scroll among the ruins.   He hands it over to King Josiah’s secretary who reads it, then rushes to the Kings side to read it to him.  

And what was on that scroll?   It was the book of the Law, probably what we know to be Deuteronomy today.   The Law of God, given to Moses, of which the ten commandments were the centerpiece.   When the King heard the scroll read, he tore his own clothes in remorse.   What he heard were the words of the law that convicted him, and indeed, all the people of Israel.   He knows instantly that God certainly could not be pleased with the actions of the people of Israel, for they had not kept the commandments of the Lord.  

After some initial inquiries, the King devises a plan.  He gathers together all the people of Jerusalem, and reads the book to them.  They all are convicted by it, and follow their leader in renewing their covenant with God Almighty to be the people of God, and walk in God’s ways.

It is likely that the portion of the law that was read that day, that moved the people so greatly was the Decalogue, what we call the “Ten Commandments:”

1.   You shall have no other gods before Me.

2.   Do not worship idols.

3.   Don’t take the name of the LORD your God in vain.

4.   Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

5.   'Honor your father and your mother.

6.   Don’t murder.

7.   Don’t commit adultery.

8.   Don’t steal.

9.   Don’t give false witness against your neighbor.

10.        Don’t covet or hanker after things that are your neighbor's.

The people heard these, and other commands from the book of law, and they immediately knew what the King had discovered.   The people of God had not been faithful.   They had broken most if not all of the ten over-arching commands of God.   It was time to stand and renew their covenant with God. 

And that’s when, as you heard from the Scripture this morning, “The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord, keeping his commandments, his decrees, and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. All the people joined in the covenant.”

Covenants are not meant to be taken lightly.  We get married in a “covenant” making solemn vows to each other with God as our witness.  We are familiar with contract covenants requiring specific actions by each party, that if ignored or breached, break the entire contract making it null and void.  When that happens, damages are usually sought and awarded.

 And so it is that here we stand in this new year to renew our covenant to be God’s faithful people. 

The United Methodist heritage of Covenant renewal services goes back to John Wesley himself, the founder of Methodism.

In 1755 Wesley first recorded his use of such a Covenant Service in England.   He found the service rich and meaningful, as expressed in his Journal: "Many mourned before God, and many were comforted" (April 1756); "It was, as usual, a time of remarkable blessing" (October 1765); "It was an occasion for a variety of spiritual experiences ... I do not know that ever we had a greater blessing. Afterwards many desired to return thanks, either for a sense of pardon, for full salvation, or for a fresh manifestation of His graces, healing all their backslidings" (January 1, 1775).

The Covenant Prayer provides a means for persons to commit themselves to God.  In London these services were usually at the first of the year.  The Covenant Service was also conducted whenever John Wesley visited the Methodist Societies.

In our Covenant today, the Invitation and prayer is taken directly from Wesley's service of 1780.  We begin with these words of preparation, then Rev. Adelia will continue with the invitation and lead us in the Covenant Prayer.

“Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Christian life is redeemed from sin and consecrated to God. Through baptism, we have entered this life and have been admitted into the new covenant of which Jesus Christ is the Mediator.  He sealed it with his own blood, that it might last forever.

“On the one side, God promises to give us new life in Christ. On the other side, we pledge to live no longer for ourselves but for Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us.  From time to time we renew our covenant with God, and so we meet, as the generations before us have met, to renew the covenant that binds us to God.  Let us make this covenant with God our own.  Would you please stand?

COVENANT PRAYER

I am no longer my own, but thine.  

Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me employed by thee or laid aside for thee,

Exalted for thee or brought low by thee.

Let me be full, let me be empty.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things to they pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine.  

So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,

let it be ratified in heaven.  

Amen.