A Covenant

A possible congregational covenant of membership:

"We, the members of [name of congregation] do covenent together in the spirit of love and in the knowledge that we are all related in the interdependent web of life, to walk together in compassion, holding ourselves and each other accountable to the ever-renewing revelation that leads us to becoming our best selves, nurturing the beloved community, and creating a just world."

The covenants created by our forebears in puritan New England of the 16th century frequently included the phrase "in the spirit of our lord jesus christ." I updated this to "in the spirit of love." Many early covenants also included a reference to a creedal statement about God or the scriptures. I replace this with the phrase about the "Interdependent web of life" and specifically included the word "related" to evoke feminist theology of relationship and the indigenous theologies made famous through the phrase "all my relations."

Most of those early covenants spoke of walking together. That metaphor still expresses a visceral truth for me. We do not need to think alike to love alike and we do not need to agree with one another in order to walk side-by-side. This reminds us that this is a covenant: a promise to behave in a certain way, not to believe a certain thing. This phrase reminds me of the art installation at the civil rights museum in Atlanta, celebrating the walk to Selma: People of all shapes and sizes, on crutches, in wheelchairs, carrying babies, leaning on a neighbor, walking together in a common cause.

Compassion and Accountability are the twin items that come next. Compassion is needed lest we lose our respect for the inherent worth of every being. Accountability is needed to guard against the excesses of compassion that Rabbi Edwin Friedman so eloquently warns against.

Ever-renewing revelation reminds us that we seek insights from the past, but cannot rest from our seeking. There are many truths and we are all able to provide a piece of the truth. The commitment then is to becoming the best selves we can be, to nurture a beloved community, and to create a just world.