From The Shooting Star, January 27, 2008. Copyright 2008, Ellen Rowse Spero. All rights reserved.
As I have been mentioning in worship for awhile now, the Standing Committee and I will be sponsoring another all-congregation workshop with the Rev. Larry Peers on Saturday, March 15 from 9 am to 3 pm. Larry is a UU minister and an expert in the area of congregational life and congregational systems. He is a senior consultant for the Alban Institute, an organization dedicated to working with religious communities and helping them develop best practices and find the ways to live out their faith, their purposes and principles.
Larry has led two conferences with us in the past: one on leadership, and one on discerning and articulating our commitments. At this second conference, in April 2006, we came up with this list:
"We are a congregation that is committed to:
-care of the earth
-willingness to serve within the church
-honoring, caring, empowering and mentoring every person who comes through our doors
-nurturing our youth and young adults
-the belief that our local and global community matter, and so making a difference in the larger world
-carrying and communicating our faith message into the world
-generous stewardship, including financial responsibility
-actively expressing our commitment to social justice."
I would like us to re-gather to consider these commitments and what they mean for our shared life, and to explore whether we would like to articulate an explicit covenant—the promises we share as individuals in this community. As I say often from the pulpit, covenant is at the foundation of Unitarian Universalism. It is how we are organized as an association of free congregations (see our Purposes and Principles).
We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote
The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all;
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
It is the basis of our congregational polity or church governance. It is the basis of our minister-congregation relationship. And it is the basis of our rituals and rites of passage: child dedication, marriage, and membership.
The Standing Committee invite and encourage all of you to come—newcomer, friend, new member, long-time friend, long time member, if you consider or are considering First Parish as your religious or spiritual community. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, a covenant is: "An agreement arrived at after discussion in which the parties involved promise to honor their respective and communal obligations to themselves and each other and the group as a whole."
Or as the Rev. Rebecca Parker states, "As UU’s we speak of covenant as a verbal statement of promise between individuals who exercise their power to choose and thus bring community into being." and, "Covenant first is not a verbal agreement, but a practice. Our verbal promises are frosting on the cake, they are not the cake itself. They help us keep the covenant we are in. They are not the covenant itself."
The goal is not to have a covenant produced at the end of the day but to have a conversation, a discussion about what we promise to honor, with regard to our respective and communal obligations to ourselves, each other, the congregation, and Unitarian Universalism. As we go through this exciting and challenging time of growth and change, being intentional and clear about our mutual obligations and support, gives us a grounding for living out our free faith in a healthy and trustworthy community. So, it is important that you be there.
In faith,
Ellen