A People of Covenant

We often speak our congregational covenant together, and today I muse about the ways that covenant is important in the United Church of Christ.

What Matters? Part Two: We Are a People of Covenant, a United and Uniting Church

Genesis 9:12-17; John 17:20-23 

We covenant together, with God and one another, trusting in God’s continuing guidance, to seek to understand and do God’s will, to explore the mystery of Christ, and to witness to God’s reconciling love.

Those are the words of our congregation’s covenant; they are words that we speak when we welcome new members into the church, when we celebrate the sacrament of baptism, and in recent months, when we prepare to leave worship and return to the rest of our lives. The covenant tells who we are, and whose we are.

Covenants matter in the United Church of Christ, and so in this second chapter of the sermon series on “What Matters,” I turn to this: We are a people of covenant, a united and uniting church.

We are a people of covenant because God has initiated covenants of faith with humans from the very beginning. Our reading this morning from the book of Genesis bring us the voice of God to Noah after the flood, a voice that promised “an everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. [Genesis 9:16] It is a covenant that was tested many times, usually by the disobedience and sin of the people of Israel, but it is also a covenant to which God has been faithful.

The part of the Bible that we call the New Testament might also be called the new covenant, and in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he quotes Jesus at the last supper saying “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” [1 Corinthians 11:25] Both the language and reality of God’s covenant with us are central to our faith.

We have translated that language and reality into our way of being the church. Rather than requiring people to ascribe to particular theological doctrines or dogmas, membership in the United Church of Christ is based on coming together, in covenant, for worship, nurture, mutual support, and transformative action in the world.

That is not to say that we do not have documents that articulate our faith. The United Church of Christ Statement of Faith is both powerful and beautiful. But it is not a test of faith; it is a testimony of faith. It is, like our church, imbued with both reverence for the past and openness for the future. Here is how it describes God’s covenant with us:

You promise to all who trust you

forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace

courage in the struggle for justice and peace,

your presence in trial and rejoicing,

and eternal life in your realm which has no end.

Every year in confirmation class, there is at least one young person who challenges the idea that it is important to be a member of a church. The youth notices that there while membership brings responsibilities, it doesn’t seem to bring any privileges (voting at congregational meetings not seeming like much of a privilege!). Our answer to that is this: membership in a church is important because our mutual covenant makes us companions on the difficult journey of life, companions who are committed to the same values that we are.

The whole United Church of Christ is bound together by covenants. Our local church has autonomy of belief and practice, but we are at the same time bound in covenant with our sister churches in the Minnesota conference. The conference, in turn, is in covenant with the other 38 conferences of the UCC, and we are all in covenant with the people who serve in the ministries of the national setting of the church. To be sure, these covenantal relationships are sometimes difficult and always somewhat inefficient. To be in covenant requires us to take seriously the convictions and practices of other parts of the wider church, and to insist that they take seriously our convictions and practices. We have a lot of experience at living and working together in the face of disagreements and differing priorities.

That experience began with the formation of the United Church of Christ in the 1950’s. The Congregational Christian Churches (note the plural) and the Evangelical and Reformed Church (singular) of North America were not obvious candidates for uniting into a single body. And frankly, the process of doing that was not always pretty. There were wrangles, lawsuits, schisms, and withdrawals – most of them, I am sad to say, on the part of Congregational churches. But the founders of the UCC were convinced that they were called to come together, and they steadfastly fashioned a covenantal structure. That structure has been revised several times, was radically overhauled once, and is probably about to be seriously overhauled again.

But the work of being a “uniting” church is not limited to our life together, it also involves our church’s relationship with other religious bodies and with the world at large. We have been leaders in the ecumenical movement, always ready to work together with others on issues of common concern. We have clergy reciprocity with the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, and work corporately with them for overseas missions. We undertake that overseas work, not as privileged persons who go abroad to “save” others, but as servants who collaborate with churches in other parts of the world to support their mission and ministries. We are part of the “formula of agreement” with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the Reformed Church in America that provides for mutual recognition of clergy and cooperation in many kinds of ministry.

But again, we need to be clear that being “united and uniting” is not vital to our church because we think it is a good idea. It is vital to our church because it is our way of faithfully following the gospel. The motto of the UCC, “that they may all be one,” is taken from the passage we heard this morning from the Gospel of John; It is part of what is often called The High Priestly Prayer. We understand ourselves to be called to be leaders in bringing faithful people together.

Last week I spoke about the extravagant welcome of our church, and that is often how we describe the variety of church backgrounds that come together in our membership here. But it is also helpful to recognize that the variety of our backgrounds speaks to our vocation as a “united and uniting church.” We do not ask that you leave your traditions and memories behind when you come here. On the contrary, we believe that our congregation is enriched by the kaleidoscope of traditions and memories in our collective history.

At the same time, we need to acknowledge the cost of being a united and uniting church. We do have the automatic bonding that comes from sharing a common past. We do not have a single, memorable way of celebrating the sacraments; we do not have a common repertoire of hymnody or unison prayers; we do not have a single commitment to a particular style of Christian education nor a pattern of daily devotions. And because we do not have common history of these things, we have to construct them anew. We have to listen to one another, share our past experiences, reflect on what is important to us, and make choices that reflect our future as a church, and not only our past.

And that is why it matters that we are a people of covenant, a united and uniting church. It matters that we are here because we have chosen to be here, and that our presence reflects a commitment to God and one another. Our religion is not just about a personal relationship with Christ (though it is about that), it is also about our relationships with one another. Our religion is not just about our own faith and our own church, it is also about the church universal and the wider world. It matters that we take our covenants seriously, and that we take seriously our calling to join with others in works of justice and charity. May God bless these commitments, and keep our hearts open for the covenants and unions that are still in our future.

Prayer for September 20, 2009

Almighty and everlasting God, creator of all things seen and unseen, hear now our silent prayers, as we open our hearts to you in the sacred quietness.

God of faith and hope, we bring before you our prayers for those we have named this morning – we especially remember … Bring to each of them the gifts of mercy and grace that are most needed, according to your wisdom and love.

God of time and history, we pray today for our congregation and for our church. We thank you for the scores of people who make our life together so rich and enduring. We are grateful for the many gifts and talents that are shared here, and for the generosity of those who invest their time, resources, and energies in our common life. Help us, we pray, to welcome the gifts of all who come to our door, and to open ourselves to the new life each one brings to us.

We are grateful, too, for the long history of this congregation: for the pioneers who founded this community of faith, and for the uncounted and often unnamed members and leaders who carried its work forward for the last 153 years. We thank you for the legacy of this building and land, and for all who have tended it through the years. And we thank you for the clergy who have served as ministers here, for their pastoral, priestly, and prophetic gifts.

O God of the future, we pray also for the future story of our church. As our city grows and changes, as our families develop in surprising ways, and as national and world events impinge upon our lives, help us to discern the ministry and mission to which we are called today. Hold us in the sacred tension between tradition and innovation, and help us to tolerate the uncertainty and grief that come with new priorities and practices.

Most of all, gracious God, we pray to be a community in which you are the center, so that all of our projects and programs may be rooted and grounded in your love, your compassion, and your mercy.

All this we pray in the name of the one whose life was entirely rooted and grounded in you, even Jesus the Christ, and we pray together in the words that he taught us, saying …