In recent years this service has been watered down or replaced with a commissioning service.
In days of old the patriarchs made covenants with God, and John Wesley, and brother Charles introduced this service as a way to make a deeply personal commitment. The words take us beyond our usual small ambitions to an other worldly ambition to serve God.
In the preamble we are told ... "Christ has many services to be done. Some are easy, others are difficult. Some bring honour, others bring reproach. Some are suitable to our natural inclinations and temporal interests, others are contrary to both..."
Then comes the 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 be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for 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 thy 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.
The hymns were mostly by Charles Wesley.