We are a people who thrive by nurturing the spirit within, healing hurts, restoring hopes, and celebrating our lives together. We strive for justice in the world by building caring communities, honoring our heritage, and leaving a legacy of love.
— University Unitarian Church Seattle
We unite to strengthen the bonds of kinship among all persons, promote human dignity, and increase reverence for life's creating, sustaining, and transforming power through worship, study and service.
— Countryside Church, Palatine, Illinois
We understand reality through human experience, enlightened reason, scientific method, and the democratic process, and we find the central source of power and goodness within the human heart, mind, and spirit. Individually and collectively, we assume responsibility for our future, our community, our children, and our interdependent world.
Our growth and actions as thoughful, compassionate, and ethical human beings advance our humanist vision of a world of peace and love, dignity and equality, freedom and justice.
— First Unitarian, Minneapolis, Minnesota
As an Earth-based Unitarian Universalist congregation, we of the Gaia Community, gather to honor the inherent sacredness of Nature in a family-supportive environment where diversity of belief and lifestyle is respected. We care for the Earth and each other because our lives depend on it.
Our mission is to provide a spiritual home and point of connection for those seeking to:
- celebrate the fullness and healing power of Nature of which we are a part;
honor the divine as both feminine and masculine;
- take responsibility for their spiritual growth in the context of shared ministry and democratic decision-making;
- model and to teach sustainable living in both an urban and rural context.
In so doing we will reclaim and reintegrate Earth-based spirituality and Paganism that they might be restored to their rightful place of dignity among the family of religious traditions.
We covenant to strengthen our community of joy and caring by treating each other with loving-kindness, celebrating each other's growth, accepting each other's limitations, honoring each other's unique path and by welcoming all who share these values.
— Gaia Community, Kansas City, Missouri
The mission of the Society of the First and Second Church in Boston, Unitarian Universalist, is to provide an environment for lifelong spiritual growth through free religious thought and expression. Within the context of religious freedom, we respect differences and offer a supportive and safe community for all worship, spirituality, education and fellowship.
In the love of truth, and in the spirit of Jesus, we unite for the worship of God and service to humankind.
— First Unitarian Congregational Society, Wilton, New Hampshire
What is a covenant? How is a covenant different from a creed? Why do Unitarian Universalist congregations write their own covenants? What is their power?
Perhaps the word "covenant" put you off. For some of us covenants refer to agreements made between God and the ancient Israelites in the Hebrew scriptures. In the older portion of the Bible God promises not to destroy the world again by flood after the Noah steps out of the ark with animal families in tow with the rainbow to represent the promise. Of course, fundamentalist Christians claim that the next time the world is destroyed that it will be by fire. God promises to protect the House of David, the royal family of Israel as long as they maintain the Temple and keep the Ten Commandments.
Those are the kinds of covenants that are familiar from more traditional sources. In Unitarian Universalist tradition though, covenants are statements of belief or purpose that gather our individual churches. So, what do Unitarian Universalists believe? In the readings from different churches covenants, you might have been surprised at the variety, length and brevity of the church covenants. Some of them might have either surprised or offended you as well. In looking for church covenants on the internet I copied the most extreme examples of church covenants to demonstrate that covenants can be really different from congregation to congregation. Most Unitarian Universalist congregations though do not have a covenant with any kind of specific theological statement.
So, what is the difference between a covenant and a creed? A creed is a statement of faith with absolute beliefs stated. Perhaps you remember creeds recited in other churches. The Apostle's creed begins "I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth." It then mentions some of the miraculous aspects of the life of Jesus and affirms certain religious beliefs like the communion of saints, bodily resurrection and life everlasting.
That is a creed. It is a statement of belief. No actions are expected from this belief. A person or congregation may hold these beliefs and be outgoing or insular, charitable or mean-spirited. Anything is possible with a creed. Action is less necessary than faith.
By contrast, a covenant is a religious promise which says, essentially, this is who we are and this is what we hope to accomplish. A covenant is less a statement of belief than it is a statement of ethics. Who are we? What does being who we are make us do?
Many Unitarian Universalist congregations recite their covenants every Sunday. When I served as the ministerial intern at Countryside Church in Palatine, Illinois I witnessed the power of this ritual repetition of the church covenant. It was the Annual Meeting of the congregation. The president of the congregation began the meeting with a few opening words. Then, he remarked that he regretted that he had omitted printing the church's covenant in the agenda. Well, you know what happened then? The entire congregation spontaneously stood up and recited their church covenant from memory: "We unite to strengthen the bonds of kinship among all persons, promote human dignity, and increase reverence for life's creating, sustaining, and transforming power through worship, study and service." I was astonished that they did that as a community without prompting or the words printed. The words were with them and they united that congregation.
The history of covenant within the Unitarian Universalist movement is rather particular to churches. Some congregations review their covenant every few years to examine its validity as their statement of mission and vision. Some congregations never revise their covenant, believing that the original statement that gathered their sacred community is still valid.
The church that I served in Wilton, New Hampshire was about two hundred and thirty years old. Its tradition around covenant had waned with the passage of time but in the first century of the congregation's existence the covenant was a much more significant document. The Wilton congregation rewrote its covenant each and every time it settled a new minister. The minister would write the covenant and the board of trustees would amend it and share it with the congregation for input. Over time one could read the covenants from one ministry to another and note the gradual theological liberalism becoming more and more pronounced as the congregation moved from being a conservative, Puritan church to a liberal, Unitarian one. The covenants were therefore not only statements of general faith and mission. They were also reflections of the relationship between the vocational minister and the laity.
Another church that I served had never changed its original covenant that had gathered the congregation during the Puritan days. They had reinterpreted it, ignoring many sections, but they had not set it aside to begin anew. After all, if it has been the church's covenant for three hundred and fifty years, why change it now?
The church in Lancaster was a congregation averse to change of any sort. The slightest difference from the way things had been previously done had to be challenged.
So, how averse to change were they? Well, the board of trustees met in the church parlor. One evening it was noted that the lights in the parlor were very dim and it was also noted that the light fixtures could take brighter bulbs. They decided to put in brighter light bulbs into their fixtures. However, they knew that if the light bulbs were changed all at the same time that the congregation would rebel at living with too much illumination. A brighter room would be too drastic a change. Therefore, the board instructed the church janitor to change only one dim bulb for a brighter bulb every week. That way the change would be so gradual that nobody would notice. The Unitarians in Lancaster, Massachusetts do not like change!
The Unitarian Fellowship of West Chester though is slightly more accepting of change. For those who have been in the Unitarian Fellowship a long time it must seem that the congregation has gone through many changes—the shift from having no minister to calling a minister, the move from Franklin Street to the limbo of meeting in different places before moving to this building. and more recently, the change from a long-settled minister to an interim minister.
In the next year more changes will be experienced. This congregation is currently exploring the possibility of going from one to two services. The church is also preparing for the ministerial search process, a year-long process of organizing materials, communicating with the Unitarian Universalist Association, surveying the congregation about its preferences, interviewing prospective ministers for this congregation's ministry and eventually, presenting one person to be the candidate for this church's settled ministry.
One of the unusual things about my sense of ministry is that when I case a church and am interested in finding out who a congregation is, I look at their covenant and mission statement. After all, the covenant is the document in which the congregation affirms its beliefs and says what it is organized to do. The vision or mission statement tells what the church aspires to become, what the church is hoping to become or specific goals. Ministers look at the congregation's covenant or mission statement and examine the way the congregation actually does things. Then, I look at how the congregation actually spends its money. One of my mentors in ministry told me, "People spend money on that which they value. To know the truth, follow the money."
For example, I have seen covenants and missions that stated that a church was organized to teach religious values to children and then noticed that the religious education budget was far less than the social fellowship budget. The covenant and mission are the dream. Whether that dream is made concrete by any liberal religious community is based upon how closely the membership mean what they say.
You see, I believe that Unitarian Universalist ministers need an understanding of covenant and mission. The minister is hired, essentially, to assist the congregation in examining its values and vision and assist in fulfilling them.
This morning I altered the traditional chalice-lighting from the usual song. Raise your hand if you recognized the words from the chalice lighting that we used this morning. Those words are this congregation's purpose, according to the by-laws; its reason for existing. The church's bylaws state that "The purpose of the Fellowship is to further individual freedom of belief, discipleship to advancing truth, and the democratic process in human relations by joining together in a cooperative quest for religious and ethical values." Though I do not dismiss this covenant or statement of purpose, I do wonder if that statement reflects who this congregation is today. Advancing freedom of belief and truth and the democratic process in human relations are highly idealistic points of view. This is very much a "thinker's" statement of covenant. It intends to promote abstract values. If I were matching church covenants to congregations I doubt that I would match that statement of purpose to the Unitarian Fellowship of West Chester. In its high-mindedness, it does not mention that this is a congregation that cares for its members, that dedicates itself to children's religious education and supports youth in their difficult transition to adulthood. From this statement one would never know that this congregation has good potlucks—that some of you are willing to hold each other's hands when one of you is dying. In short, this purpose statement reflects who this congregation was fifty years ago—high-minded but not necessarily as connected with each other as you are now.
Another side that this covenant omits is this congregation's dedication to social justice. The Unitarian Fellowship of West Chester might not define itself as a social justice church but it is one. You have committed this congregation to welcoming and advocating for the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered. You have build homes for the homeless. In your early days, you advocated for the racial integration of the public schools in this area. In recent times many of you organized to oppose the war in Iraq. Though all might not agree with every statement of social justice, I know that this congregation does believe passionately in justice for all people and conservation of the natural world. Unfortunately though, your covenant does not include this passion out right.
Closer to this identity is the church's vision statement. The Unitarian Fellowship of West Chester's vision statement states:
Our Fellowship aspires to be:
- A welcoming, accepting, respectful, and caring place for all people.
- A community where people can explore and share their individual and spiritual journeys within the context of the UU principles and traditions.
- A forum that encourages discussion and exploration of diverse ideas, values and world views.
- A congregation that works towards the betterment of society, respect for the natural world of which we are a part, and the promotion of peace, understanding and justice.
This is pretty good in a certain context. That context is that this is who the congregation actually is. Your vision statement is not really a vision statement, it is actually a new covenant, stating who you actually are as a religious community. A covenant states who a congregation is. A vision statement states who you aspire to become. In reality, your vision statement tells who you already are.
Both this congregation's purpose and vision statement omit the most successful aspects of this congregation. Were I to name the programs in the church that have had the most success over the course of the past few years I would have to say that the Unitarian Fellowship's strength is its children's religious education program and youth group. Yet, no mention is made of religious education at all in the Fellowship's purpose or vision statements.
Earlier I mentioned that this congregation was changing. I neglected to mention that in addition to studying the possibility of going to a second service, the congregation will also be going through a re-visioning process over the next five months. It is hoped that this process will enable the congregation to understand itself better through embracing possibilities for the future.
In the next year this congregation's ministerial search committee will need to tell prospective candidates who the Unitarian Fellowship of West Chester actually is. The form used by the denominational department of Ministerial Settlement has a section which asks, "what is at the core of the congregation, not a vision or mission statement, but a ‘glowing ember' that keeps the congregation going?" It is my hope that you will be able to tell the prospective candidates what this congregation is about. It is my hope that you will be able to tell them what you aspire to be and to do.
Part of the problem for me, as your interim minister, has been trying to understand this congregation's identity. In my ministerial vocation I have served six congregations. All six were unique, each had its own sense of being. All were distinctly different. What united the five churches that I served before the Unitarian Fellowship of West Chester was their ability to state who they were very clearly in their own words.
Permit me to share this experience with you. This is High Street Unitarian Universalist Church of Macon Georgia's covenant:
We invite all people to join us in our community of faith. We commit ourselves to spiritual growth. We give a home and voice to religious liberalism in Middle Georgia, providing quality lifespan religious education. We welcome diversity, knowing that each person has inherent worth and dignity, and understanding our vital link with the web of all existence. We seek to live our faith through works that positively transform society. Our search for truth and justice gives us meaning—our community makes us whole.
This is a very good covenant. It tells about some of the values that community upholds. One of the elements I liked most when I read through their mission statement was the mention that High Street Church gives "a home and voice to religious liberalism in Middle Georgia. . ." That is a remarkable statement. Most Unitarian Universalist church mission statements are so global and far-reaching that it is sometimes difficult to know who or where they are. One cannot know from most Unitarian Universalist church covenants or mission statements where a congregation is actually located. One cannot tell the congregation's actual context. But that one is clear—that congregation is in Middle Georgia.
The only mission statement that I could find that was anywhere similar to High Street Church's mission statement came from All Soul's Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Strangely enough, though Unitarian Universalism has New England roots, one of the largest Unitarian Universalist congregations in the United States is All Souls, Tulsa, Oklahoma, with approximately fifteen hundred members. For your information, Tulsa Oklahoma is not exactly a hotbed of liberalism. The church has grown to foster a couple of other congregations in the Tulsa suburbs. A former minister told me that All Souls grew because they were often willing to ignore conventional wisdom and find their own way and identified their mission early on. So, what is the mission of that congregation? The mission of All Souls Church is, and I quote, "to civilize Tulsa, Oklahoma." Apparently, with Oral Roberts University only miles away, the Unitarian Universalists of Tulsa do not believe that their community is yet civilized.
I like the specific nature of All Souls Church's mission. I like the specific nature of High Street Church's covenant. Churches can and do think globally. We all live in one big village nowadays. However, I have lived in different parts of the country and found that every community has its own blessings and challenges. Churches which do not name the community they serve in their mission often do not serve it at all. I know of many congregations that gather money and clothes for people in Nigeria (a worthwhile enterprise) but, are not even aware that a homeless shelter is down the street.
If I were to name the Macon, Georgia congregation's identity it would have to be from the last sentence of their covenant, "Our search for truth and justice gives us meaning—our community makes us whole." That is what that congregation is about. When their ministerial search committee asked about what kind of minister they might be seeking, I told them that many different kinds of ministers might fit their church but that their next minister had to have to traits: he or she had to be motivated by the search for justice and had to be sociable—someone who enjoyed being a participant in a religious community. And, I repeated the last line of their covenant, "Our search for truth and justice gives us meaning–our community makes us whole." That was what that congregation was about, in one sentence.
It is locally and personally that Unitarian Universalist ideals are lived. We have no binding absolute statement about God, Buddha, Muhammad or Jesus. We live in covenant—which is more a way of being. The Unitarians of old used to say that they believed in "deeds not creeds." To them, how one lived revealed who one truly was. That is the power of covenant. It is the statement of who we are as a community and as individuals. A vision or mission statement is who we aspire to become. The greatest challenge that we liberal religious folk have to live with is not the constraints of oppression, freedom of conscience and faith foisted upon us in by the less tolerant. Rather, our greatest challenge is to live our covenant in this community and in the community at large.
That is yet another aspect of covenant and creed. You see, with creeds the challenge is to believe. With covenants and mission, the challenge is to be or to act. Another challenge is to revisit your covenant in your next settled ministry and talk about your mission together with your next minister, believing, as I do, that covenants were meant to be negotiated, rewritten and challenged. The work of the covenant is infinite.
Though the purpose and vision of the Unitarian Fellowship of West Chester might not reflect the nature of this congregation, I want you to know that were I looking for a liberal religious community to join in this area, this congregation would be first. You face many challenges with growth and change yet you still have a good heart—a better heart than many of our congregations. In asking you to think of your covenant and mission, I am only asking you to consider leading with your strengths to embrace a new reality.
I will close today with this consideration of covenants. The first congregational covenants in this country were written by the Pilgrims, those people who celebrated the first Thanksgiving by Northern Europeans on this continent. The Pilgrims knew that their communities were interconnected and interrelated. Dangers abounded. Life must have seemed uncertain.
What is certain is that they made religious, faithful contracts with each other explaining their responsibilities to each other and to their sacred community. They called them covenants.
I conclude with an adaption the Reverend Alice Blair Wesley has made of an original Pilgrim covenant, for our contemporary Unitarian Universalist movement:
We pledge to walk together in the ways of truth and affection, as best we know them now or may learn them in days to come that we and our children may be fulfilled and that we may speak to the world in words and actions of peace and goodwill.
So be it. Amen.
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