Vows
Matthew 5: 37
If I asked you to name a vow you’ve taken in your life or know of other people taking, many of you would probably mention marriage vows. Some may think of the religious vows that priests, nuns, and monks take in the Roman Catholic tradition. I have a friend who is part of a lay Catholic order, the Lay Carmelites. He is not a monk, but he still took religious vows upon entering the order. He took vows of obedience, counsels of poverty (intentional detachment from material possessions beyond necessities), and chastity.
Taking religious vows may be unfamiliar for us Protestants, who don’t traditionally have religious orders. However, we do have our own religious vows that we take as United Methodists. Those of us set apart for ordination make vows. And every single person who is baptized and every person who enters into membership in The United Methodist Church makes vows. At its most basic, a vow is a solemn promise. When we are baptized, we (or those who sponsor our baptism in the case of infants) make promises to God, and when we become full members of The United Methodist Church, we make promises to God through our support of the church, which belongs to God.
Many married people will celebrate anniversaries, especially milestone ones, with vow renewal ceremonies. These ceremonies aren’t just an excuse to throw a party. They are designed to remind everyone in a public way that the promises that were made at their wedding still hold. So this week’s devotions will be sort of like a vow renewal ceremony. For those of us who have made these vows to God and the church, it will hopefully jog our memories and renew our commitment. For those who haven’t made the vows, it will hopefully inspire them to take the plunge.
By taking the baptismal and local church membership vows, the individual agrees to covenant with God and the members of the local church to keep the vows that are part of living the baptismal covenant and reception into membership in the local church. These vows have four parts:
We confess Jesus Christ as Lord.
We believe in the Christian faith as contained in the Old and New Testaments.
We pledge to support The United Methodist Church.
We pledge to uphold our local congregation through our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.
The first two parts are included in our baptismal vows, whereas the last two are part of the promises we make when we become professing members of a United Methodist Church. For those of us who have been in the church a while, these vows will hopefully ring a bell. If you look in our hymnals, you will find these vows in our baptism and membership liturgies.
No matter how familiar you are with those promises we make upon membership—prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness—you may wonder what they mean in the life of a disciple. This week will tease apart some of that so that we can begin to contemplate what it looks like for us to keep our promises to God and the church. It will look different for everyone, but they are promises we can all keep.
Before we even jump into exploring these five promises of support, I invite you to ask yourself a question: “Which one of these promises do I struggle to fulfill the most?” My prayer is that this week you will find inspiration and practical suggestions on how to best live into these promises, both for the benefit of St. Andrew United Methodist Church, but more importantly, for the benefit of the Gospel.
Prayer
Faithful God, you always keep your promises to us. Grant us the faithfulness and courage to keep our promises as well. Bless our membership in Your Holy Church so that we can be steadfast partners in your Kingdom. Deepen our commitment to you. Amen.
Rev. Dana Ezell
