September 30, 2012
“Covenant: a Curiosity”
Rev. Dr. Gretchen Woods
When I arrived at All Souls Unitarian Church, Indianapolis, in August of 2011, more than a year ago now, I was impressed by the fact that each of you who expressed your care and concern for this congregation in its difficulties of transition, almost ALL of you, in fact, referred to the Covenant we just spoke together. The covenant you made in 1906 to guide you through the rocky shoals of tribulation was on your minds. You got my attention immediately, because not all UUs see the covenants we share so clearly as guides for you in the challenges of your lives. I say, “Hooray for you!”
Now, I have to admit, it was also clear that you had different interpretations of how the covenant was broken, but you, at the very least, were aware of and thinking about your covenant. I was impressed.
As time went by, I realized you were less well acquainted with the Covenant and Principles of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Perhaps exploring those over the next two months will prove useful to you, providing more specific guidance for your every day lives and reconnection with the larger movement we call the Unitarian Universalist Association. With that in mind, I begin this series of services with the words that begin the current UU covenant, “We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote:” followed by the seven affirmations that provide the glue that holds us together during our shared search for truth and meaning and our efforts to bring justice, equity, and compassion into our world.
So, today, let’s explore what a covenant is – and isn’t and how that plays out in our lives, as individuals and a congregation together:
What is a covenant? Well, Tom Owen-Towle offered some definitions in the reading shared just a few minutes ago. Perhaps the best known covenant in Jewish mythology is symbolized by the rainbow. After the Great Flood during which Yahweh destroyed all of the people of the world, except Noah and his family, Yahweh placed a rainbow in the sky as a promise to Noah and the Jews that he would never again destroy all of the people on the earth. This promise included the proviso that Jews would live in right relationship with Yahweh. It was a reciprocal agreement.
In 2001, The Commission on Appraisal of the Unitarian Universalist Association defined covenant thus, “A covenant of a community is a set of mutual commitments, promises, or agreements that form the bond of community, its center.” (Belonging: the Meaning of Membership. The Commission on Appraisal of the Unitarian Universalist Association. 2001. P 29.) They continue, “We often say that our congregations are covenantal communities.” (Ibid.) As the Indianapolis cluster of the Uu Ministers Association began to explore a covenant for its members, we asked the questions: “What do you need from us? What can and will you promise to the group?” These are covenantal questions. As UUs, we are not founded on creeds to which one must assent, but on covenants into which one enters freely, as eight people did last week, by signing the All Souls Membership Book. A joyous welcome to all of you!
The Commission on Appraisal’s report in 1997, Interdependence: Renewing Congregational Polity, made a clear distinction between religious and secular covenants:
Religious as distinct from secular covenants are grounded in spiritual realities that were understood traditionally as divine gifts: for these gifts the people entering the covenant acknowledged gratitude. James Luther Adams has emphasized that an authentic covenant is rooted in love, not law. (Interdependence, p. 43.)
For this reason, I believe marriages are religious covenants, rather than legal contracts. And when a marriage fails, it is usually because the parties involved have lost contact with the gratitude for what they are - or were – together, the understanding that their relationship is rooted in love.
Historically, it has always been under the rubric of covenant that our congregations gathered. The history of Unitarianism on this continent tells us:
American Unitarianism came out of the congregational churches established in Massachusetts, which organized themselves around the principles articulated in the Cambridge Platform of 1648. This document was created to settle differences and to explain themselves to the Church of England, to which they all professed to belong. Doctrinally consistent with the Reformation Christianity of the day, the platform sought to prove that Congregationalism was the best and most biblically accurate form of church governance.
The Cambridge Platform holds that “there is no greater Church than a congregation,” which consists of visible saints in voluntary agreement and covenant with each other to “worship, edify, and have fellowship.” Each church is autonomous, because there is no higher authority than the congregation. . .
American Unitarianism emerged out of the culture that the Cambridge Platform described. Unitarian congregations elected their own leaders, determined their own membership, (which was often how a congregation could be known as Unitarian), selected their own clergy, and paid their own way. The American Unitarian Association (organized in 1825 and succeeded by the Unitarian Universalist Association in 1961) mimicked the practice of synods and councils through its May Meetings and fall meetings. The former were business meetings of the Association, which was not (until much after 1825) composed of congregations. The latter were the occasions of debate on issues and matters of faith, suitable subjects for a true synod, but not binding. (Interdependence, pp. 17-19.)
Similarly, Universalists have a long history of covenant:
In 1790, seventeen Universalists representing eight societies, convened in Philadelphia, where they drew up articles of faith and an organizational plan. The plan of church government adopted by the delegates was described as “nearly that of the Congregational Church,” and a church was defined as consisting “of a number of believers, united by covenant (italics, GLW), for the purpose of maintaining the public worship of God, the preaching of the gospel, ordaining officers, preserving order and peace among its members, and relieving the poor.” Each church was empowered to decide on the “call, qualification, and gifts, of those who wish to devote themselves to God and the ministry,” and to “solemnly set apart and ordain such persons.” (Ibid. p. 21)
Clearly, the language of covenant has powerful roots for both Unitarians and Universalists. Conrad Wright reminds us, however, that UUs have two major issues with covenants: language and taking the covenant seriously. The language problem echoes the charge that Unitarian Universalists do not sing hymns well because we are always reading ahead to see if we agree with the words. With covenants, it is important to pay attention to the words, but we can avoid taking any action as we quibble over words, rather than moving forward with meaningful action in our world. May it not be so with the Vision/Mission and “Main Thing” you agreed upon last May!
With regard to that idea that we do not take our covenants seriously, Wright writes:
The other problem with our covenants is that we do not take them seriously enough . . . We need to pay more attention to what the commitments are that are undertaken in a covenantal relationship and how they may be terminated. Joining a church should not be quite the same things a joining the National Geographic Association [sic]. (Ibid. p. 30.)
Here at All Souls Unitarian Church, your covenant is taken seriously enough that you speak it every Sunday, write it in steel on your sanctuary wall, and refer to it in times of trouble. Last week you rededicated the oaken plaque that contains the covenant from the AlabamaStreetChurch and is placed in the Beattie Room for all to read in meetings held there. In addition, in January, you will begin the process of writing a Covenant of Right Relations that will articulate the specifics of how you agree to treat your selves, your fellow congregants, your staff, and your minister. It will be approved at a congregational meeting next spring. That’s serious!
But dedicating and speaking only serve you insofar as you also continue to ponder your promises and how they speak to you in your day-to-day interactions. I wish to refer to the one that seems to provide the most turbulence: “and to help one another.” This seems simple enough, but figuring it out in specific instances can be challenging.
I note that the Minister’s Discretionary Fund is only to be used for members and is expected to be paid back promptly. This makes sense in some cases, but not in those where a member has found him or her self in a position in which they are not remotely able to respond that way. Do they not receive help? What to do?
Conversely, the congregation has, in past, become more involved in selectively helping some folks than seems healthy. It is essential to be certain that anyone being helped a.) wants to be helped and b.) has clearly first been doing one’s best to take care of one’s self. It in important that one does not build an unhealthy dependency on the part of another in the name of “helping.” This is a question of boundaries and merits much more thought.
When you say you help one another that means you pledge the resources of time, talent, and treasure at your disposal to the congregation through your yearly pledge campaign. This way you know that the church will continue to provide the place in which you may act upon your covenant. In response, you have the rightt to be treated thoughtfully and respectfully.
Being in covenant may also mean that you show up and do meaningful work when needed, such as helping the new minister move into his or her new home – just as you did for me. It does not mean that this congregation buys a home for the new minister. Being in covenant means that you will raise funds for food security around the world through participating or supporting those who do participate in the Crop Walk. Join them, especially our youth, on October 21. Being in covenant means, well, you get the idea. . .
So what is the covenant that Unitarian Universalism offers? What are these Purposes and Principles of which we speak? They provide the what of UU covenant, the values that hold us together. There are always those who disagree with one or another of the values, but since they were reworked from 1981-1985, the congregations who remain in membership agree that these are the foundation or center from which radiates our movement.
We base our understanding of religion, not on institutions or creeds, but on values. I often suggest that different religions emphasize different religious questions. Those key questions are: “Who am I?” Why am I here?” What is important?” and, “How shall I live?” The question: “Who am I?” is of prime importance for our Jewish friends and neighbors, as the answer, “We are the chosen people of Yahweh,” underpins their faith. “Why am I here?” seems to be a focus of Protestant religion, as the answer “To give glory to Jesus and God” rings from them. Buddhists focus upon “How then shall I live?” as their spiritual practices offer grounding for life’s process.
Unitarian Universalists seem especially focused upon the question, “What is important?” When the American Unitarian Association merged with the Universalist Church of America in 1961, the foundation for that merger lay in a statement of principles. In the weeks ahead I shall explore each principle separately, so I shan’t belabor them now. If they are new to you, read them in the front of our hymnbook, Singing the Living Tradition, or pick up a card with them that’s available in the foyer.
What excites me most about our Purposes and Principles is that they are positive statements. Rather than stating what we don’t believe, which we tended to do after World War I and the rise of nihilism, existentialism, and humanism; the current Principles assert concrete values around which we gather and from which we may direct our lives: respect for the individual; justice, equity and compassion; spiritual growth; democratic process; world community; and interdependence. I find a real center for me in these values, one from which I may make ethical decisions, and around which we may co-create effective and healthy community.
Our UU perspective emphasizes what unites us, rather than what divides us. Inclusion means we do not exclude people because of ethnic background, physical ability, age, class, sexual predisposition, cultural difference. We are grateful to be together with our differences encouraging and enriching the whole.
I look forward to exploring each of the affirmations that form our Unitarian Universalist Principles over the next two months, both in these services and with a Thursday evening class that begins on October 11. In the process, we may deepen our sense of connection to our UU religious community and enhance one another’s religious search.
I close with words from Interdependence: Renewing Congregational Polity, a report written by the Commission on Appraisal of the UUA in 1997:
One of the deepest convictions that unites us as Unitarian Universalists is a belief in the possibility of a beloved community among people, whether members of a family or the most diverse representatives of humanity. We affirm that such communities are in part a natural outgrowth of human life, but they must also deliberately formed and reformed, nurtures and renewed.
This is a spiritual vision that eludes precise definition. It is no wonder, then, that we speak of this vision in differing accents. We speak of unity in diversity, of the community of love and justice, of the kingdom (realm) of God. Our UUA Principles speak of the interdependent web of existence of which we a part. James Luther Adams spoke of a covenant of being. These terms express a vision of the individual person and the community of persons in harmony with each other, the world around us, and the spirit of life itself.
Unitarian Universalism seeks to embody this spiritual vision and to advance its fuller realization. We seek a way of being in the present that leads toward the future. A primary way that we try to embody our spiritual vision is through the congregation, the face-to-face community of people who seek to walk together faithfully, courageously, and joyfully. We want our religious community and the network of relationships that extends beyond itself to be a living model for the good of human relationships throughout life.
So Be It! Blessed Be!
Gretchen Woods10/27/181