Walking the Way: A daily devotional

Every year Methodists are encouraged to take part in the Methodist Covenant Service. Methodists all over the commonwealth will be taking part in the same service and praying the same prayer that we will pray shortly. And the amazing thing is that we have been praying that prayer since 1755 when John Wesley shared it with 1500 people in the French Church at Spitalfields London. Wesley was a magpie. He collected things from every group of Christians he came into contact with and the Covenant service is no different. He borrowed it from the Puritans and The Moravians. Both of these groups had huge impacts on the lives of John and Charles Wesley and it was with the Moravians that John had his heart strangely warmed. You might think this is all really nice but what does this mean for me? Well for me the importance of the Covenant Service is twofold: 1)     It shows the link to a tradition that we as Methodists have shared since Methodism began and for me this is i...

Isaiah 60: 1-6 Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14 Matthew 2: 1-12 “We are the seekers, the dreamers Mystical trav'llers, believers Risking it all on a star Knowing there's somebody there Longing to bring you our treasures Lay at your feet the most precious Gifts that our hearts can bring Oh how we long to be there.” This is the chorus to the song Seekers and dreamers by Graham Kendrick.  He was singing about the Magi. Those wonderful wise men who took a risk and followed a star. Matthew’s account of a group of star searchers who risked it all, tells of a group of Zoroastrian Scholars who studied the stars. A new star appeared in the sky and they followed it. They most likely travelled from Central Persia, modern day Iran and the journey would have been in the region of 1100 miles according to Google Maps. We all know they came bearing gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh and much has been read into the meaning of the gifts bu...