Covenant: Practice Makes Possible

Part of Sermon of the Month Series Subscription Service

By Erica Baron

Erica Baron: Head and shoulders of a white woman with short red hair, wearing a black blazer and a black and orange necklace against a mottled blue background.

Sermon

As T. Thorn Coyle says, “Practice makes possible.” How can the practice of covenant help us to navigate relationships in our lives and in our congregations? How do we practice covenant when things are hard?

Presented by Rev. Erica Baron, Congregational Life Staff in the New England Region.

Suggested Readings

  • 434 in Singing the Living Tradition, Anonymous
    May we be reminded here of our highest aspirations,
    and inspired to bring our gifts of love and service
    to the altar of humanity.

May we know once again that we are not isolated beings
but connected, in mystery and miracle, to the universe,
to this community and to each other.

  • “We Need One Another” #468 in Singing the Living Tradition, by George E. Odell

We need one another when we mourn and would be comforted.
We need one another when we are in trouble and afraid.

We need one another when we are in despair, in temptation, and in need to be recalled to our best selves again.
We need one another when we would accomplish some great purpose, and cannot do it alone.

We need one another in the hour of success, when we look for someone to share our triumphs.
We need one another in the hour of defeat, when with encouragement we might endure and stand again.

We need one another when we come to die, and would have gentle hands prepare us for the journey
All our lives we are in need, and others are in need of us.

  • #646 in Singing the Living Tradition, by Wendell Berry
    We clasp the hands of those who come after us
    And the hands of those who come after us.
    We enter the little circle of each other’s arms
    And the larger circle of lovers,
    Whose hands are joined in a dance
    And the larger circle of all creatures
    Passing in and out of life
    Who move also in a dance
    To a music so subtle and vast that no ear hears it
    Except in fragments.
  • Excerpt from The Cambridge Platform, written in 1648 
    A number of professing Christians cannot be formed into a church without their freely and mutually covenanting to walk together in all the duties and ordinances of the gospel. They may be real and visible saints, while they remain un-connected and separate ; but they cannot be a proper church, without entering into covenant and laying themselves under certain obligations to each other, to live and act like Christians.

Suggested Hymns

  • Love Will Guide Us — #131 in Singing the Living Tradition
  • We Would Be One — #318 in Singing the Living Tradition
  • As Tranquil Streams — #145 in Singing the Living Tradition
  • Gathered Here — #389 in Singing the Living Tradition
  • Come, Come Whoever You Are — #188 in Singing the Living Tradition
  • What We Need is Here by Amy McCreath (WorshipWeb)
  • There is a Love by Elizabeth Norton, words by Rebecca Parker (WorshipWeb)