The courage within this covenant is in the acceptance and celebration of life, with all of its challenges, pain, ironies and joys. And the sacrifice within this covenant is in the letting go of dogma, of assumptions, of control—and giving over to a greater wisdom which comes to us in bits and pieces.
The task of this covenant is to take responsibility for the freedom we espouse. We know that we are interconnected and that what we do creates ripples of hope or despair, of affirmation or negation. What we do with and for one another is powerful and beyond our imagining. (from “A Covenant Invites Relationship, by Lisa Ward)
On September 25, 2022 the Sunday service topic centered around the idea and origins of covenant and the ways we live out those relational promises. Below is the text of the covenant that UUCC adopted June 6, 2021. If you missed the service, you can catch it here: https://uuccharlotte.org/covenant/.
Submitted by Right Relations Task Group and Approved by Board of Trustees
Approved at Congregational Conversation (Annual Meeting), June 6, 2021
UUCC Covenant of Right Relations
As members of the Unitarian Universalist Community of Charlotte, we are committed to the seven UU principles, respect our Vision and Mission, and embrace being a Welcoming Congregation. We strive to treat everyone with dignity and respect, to care about and to be connected to one another, and to listen in an open-minded manner. We make the following promises to further our path in being the loving, liberating religious community that our Vision calls on us to be.
Welcome members and visitors alike with warmth and hospitality;
Speak for ourselves and listen to all with attention and kindness;
Understand that we are all works in progress in our life journeys, and recognize that everyone faces both joys and challenges that may be unknown to us, as ours are to them;
Remain open to understanding that we can learn and grow from our connections to people with both similar and differing viewpoints;
Embrace the diversity within and beyond our community, knowing it makes us a stronger, more loving and compassionate community;
Give of ourselves to the UUCC as a whole, to individual members and to those in the larger community as we are able;
Respect that our membership makes decisions by seeking unity and consensus among our members, enacting changes by majority vote, which may not always align with our personal desires;
Accept reminders of our covenant when other people may feel that we’re failing to adhere to these promises, committing to resolve conflicts by engaging in potentially difficult conversations without straying from our promise to treat each person with love, respect, and dignity.