“All contracts have terms, but covenants don’t. They last forever. In a contractual relationship, you’re always worried about breaking the rules. In a covenantal relationship, you’re only concerned with loving the other party as much as you can,” Lecrae Moore.
The theme for this month is Covenant. Unitarian Universalism is a covenantal, not creedal faith. This month in worship, in small groups, in ideas for the new church building, we’ll explore how this particular church wants to be together and support each other. We’ll also be looking at ways we already reach out to the larger community, and what new ways we may want to consider.
One of the covenants many Unitarian Universalist congregations say every week in the beginning of worship is “Love is the spirit of this church, and service is its law; this is our great covenant: to dwell together in peace, to seek the truth in love, and to help one another,” James Vila Blake, 1894.
The word covenant can be “too churchy” for many Unitarian Universalists. Many, like this church, use the word affirmation instead. This church uses an affirmation by one of your former ministers, Alice Blair Wesley, an icon in our denomination and mighty big shoes to fill for all your other ministers.
“We pledge to journey 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 with words and actions of peace and goodwill.”
‘Learning in days to come that we and our children may be fulfilled’ will also be a part of conversations this month, as we review the experiment of having all ages Religious Education before having all ages worship. Director of Religious Education, Vicki Carter, and I as your minister will be asking for your final feedback and make a decision of whether to continue in the same way or make some other configuration that can address the needs of all congregants. We all want to be as welcoming as possible to you who have already made the commitment for this to be your church home, and those who are looking for a church where they can bring their whole selves, in an ongoing, and everchanging search for truth and meaning, love and compassion. Let us all expand the ways we can bring more love into a hurting world.
Peace and Blessings,
Rev. Donna
· Rev. Donna will begin the White Supremacy Culture Discussion on the first Wednesday in October.
· Coffee Shop Hours will resume this month from
11 a.m.—2 p.m. at the Village Café in Bryan.