For Workshop 2, From "I" to "We," Activity 1, What Is Covenant?

Questions to consider:

• What are the ways that members of our congregation have obligations to one another?
• How does our covenant center people, principles, values, and dreams rather than beliefs?

Our Congregation’s Covenant

[Leader: Add the text of your congregation’s covenant of right relations to this handout before copying it for the group.]

Covenants Commonly Used In Unitarian Universalist Congregations

Love is the doctrine of this church,

The quest of truth is its sacrament,

And service is its prayer.

To dwell together in peace,

To seek knowledge in freedom,

To serve human need,

To the end that all souls shall grow into harmony with the Divine—

Thus do we covenant with each other and with God.

— Arranged by L. Griswold Williams

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

In the freedom of truth,

And the spirit of Jesus,

We unite for the worship of God

And the service of all.

— Charles Gordon Ames