I well remember the first time I came together with this congregation to join in worship. It was February 8, I remember the date because it was just two days after I had asked Jon Dan to be my partner. So, in just four more months I will celebrate the tenth anniversary of being with Jon Dan and the tenth anniversary of my coming together in worship with this congregation. But that first day with this congregation is memorable for many other reasons besides the fact that Jon and I were going together.
I remember the warm and genuinely joyful welcome that I received from everybody I met and I was overjoyed to find a congregation come together in worship that shared so many of the values that I had come to hold over the fifty plus years of a religious and spiritual journey which continues even to this day.
There were elements of the worship service that almost took my breath away: the admonition to let the collection plates pass if this was my first or second visit; the welcome that told me I belonged here; the sharing of joys and sorrows in this sanctuary where all that is shared is honored without judgment; and the reminder at the end of the worship service that although our worship has ended our service is just beginning.
But as I came again, Sunday after Sunday, one thing began to stand out with more prominence. Every Sunday in less than 30 seconds we recite together the Covenant of this congregation.
And in those 30 seconds, I contend, we sum up the entirety of Unitarian Universalist theology. When you tease out the elements of the Covenant you find our Seven Principles as well as the living tradition that we share and from which we derive our principles and theology.
