Words of Installation

First Reader: We come to you with our hopes and our fears. Will you lead us in building a welcoming religious community, tolerant and appreciative of our differences, loving and compassionate of heart, courageous and independent in spirit?

Ministers: We will.

Second Reader: We come to you with our joy and our pain. Will you listen to us, walk with us, challenge us and dare us to grow?

Ministers: We will.

Third Reader: We come to you in celebration and in sorrow. Will you lead us in laughter, join us in tears, support us in change?

Ministers: We will.

Fourth Reader: We come to you in confusion and despair. Will you struggle with us and stand with us, reason with us and reflect with us, as we strive to walk in the spirit and the ways of truth?

Ministers: We will.

Fifth Reader: We come to you overwhelmed by others’ needs. Will you keep us in touch with their pain and their worth, bring us renewal to keep on the way?

Ministers: We will.

Sixth Reader (a child): We come here not knowing why we are here. Will you teach us, listen to us, care for us, play with us? Will you challenge us to stretch and grow?

Ministers: We will.

Seventh Reader: We come here seeking nourishment for our troubled spirits. Will you point out the rainbows, show us the sacred, teach us to sing?

Ministers: We will.

Congregation: Will you share with us the joy and the rapture and the toil and the pain of a working ministry?

Ministers: We will.

Congregation: These are awesome responsibilities you undertake this night. We ask you to search your hearts once again. Do you really mean it?

Ministers: We do.

We come to lead, but you are leaders too.
We come to inspire, but you have vision too.
We come with gifts, but you bring talents too.
Will you join with us in welcoming all to our table?

Congregation: We will.

Ministers: Will you work with us to serve our neighbors, to feed their bodies, their hearts, and their minds, as we feed our own?

Congregation: We will.

Ministers: Will you walk with us when our faith is shaken, our spirits are low?

Congregation: We will.

Ministers: Will you share with us your talents and your gifts?

Congregation: We will.

Ministers: Will you share with us the joy and the rapture and the toil and the pain of our ministry?

Congregation: We will.

Ministers: These are awesome responsibilities you undertake this night. We ask you to search your hearts once again. Do you really mean it?

Congregation: We do.

Ministers, President, and Congregation: Thus, do we pledge. May we remember always the spirit of this covenant and the promise of its fulfillment.