Covenant of Belonging

 

Covenant of Belonging

Invitation

If in this community of faith you have found a sense of belonging and are ready to claim your home here, if you wish to join with us in the movement toward a different world, a better existence for all, we offer to you the opportunity to affirm that you belong and to be affirmed in that sense of belonging.

I ask that if you are present in this space that you come forward. If you have found belonging through technology, I ask that you put your name and geographic location either in the comments section of your screen, or text this information to the phone number at the bottom of the video. {{Church Office Text Number at the bottom of the screen}}

Opening Sentences

We have all come to this community seeking belonging and a connectedness that is sustainable through a God that unites us all. We are remain in this community as those who seek to follow the two great commandments:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

Love your neighbor as yourself.’

We share in the common desire to share the gifts with which we’ve been blessed, and  We journey together as a family while working together for God's realm of justice, equity, grace, and extravagant love. 

Belonging is feeling a sense of connectedness.  Connectedness is built through our service together, devotion to God and one another, and by developing love for one another and for the stranger. Trust is developed through times of tension; this trust is dynamic and strengthens our spiritual tendons and muscles. We find grace in disappointment and forgiveness, and practice all of this in our families and in our communities.  And through this all, we are reminded that as the body of Christ we are the church – not just a building that we drive by during the week, but connected to one another as something that symbolizes and points to—something greater than itself.

Friends, today you are not joining “the church” -- the institution -- the way that you would join the health club or the Rotary.  There are no contracts to be signed, and few tangible benefits of being a member. Instead you are covenanting with others in this quest for God’s kin-dom on earth as it is in heaven.  

Questions of the candidates:

Q: Do you desire to claim your place in this community of belonging?
A:  I do

Q:  Will you, as best as you are able, follow the teaching of Jesus – to love God and neighbor, to resist the forces of oppression, injustice, and hatred; to share love and kindness; to live with compassion and humility; and to share the extravagant grace you’ve been given?
I will with the help of God.

Q: Do you promise, according to the grace and gifts given to you, to support the mission and vision of this community, to respect and reach out to others within the congregation, to share in worship, and to nurture love of God and love of neighbor in the world?
I will, with the help of God.

Q: Will you lovingly challenge this community to be the best version of itself and to live up to the things we say we believe?
I will, relying upon God’s grace.

Q:  Will you allow yourself to grow in faith and witness, and to be changed, shaped, and transformed by this community, living into your identity as a beloved child of God?
I will with the help of God.

Questions of the Community of Faith

Do you reaffirm your place in this community of belonging?
A:  I do

Q:  Will you be faithful to these people as they endeavor to walk with our community of faith?
We promise our faithful companionship to our siblings in Christ.

Q: Will you lovingly challenge these siblings to be the best version of themselves and to live up to the things they say they believe?
I will, relying upon God’s grace.

Q:  Will you allow yourself to grow, and to be changed, shaped, and transformed by these new siblings, living into your identity as a beloved child of God?
I will with the help of God.

Let us unite with all those who, in the words of the Prophet Micah wish to “do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God.”
We trust in God, who calls us to transform ourselves and the world; in Jesus, who offers us new life and redemption; and in the Holy Spirit, who provides comfort, connection and inspiration.

Prayer

Let us pray.

O God, we are grateful for having been gathered into this community of faith, one part of Christ’s Body.  We thank you for everyone in our community and rejoice in the inclusion of these new siblings today.  Together may we live in the Spirit, building one another up in love, sharing in the life and worship of this church, and serving the world with justice and peace.  Together we say:
Amen.

Welcome And Reception (all who are able please stand)

Beloved, let us greet our siblings in this family of faith as we offer the hand of Christian love and welcome them into the company of this community of faith.
Thanks be to God!

 

 

This liturgy was written by Rev. Carly Stucklen Sather, in conversation with the writings of Rev. Elizabeth Dilly, Rev. Ellen Jennings, Allison Purdie, and others in the United Church of Christ Clergy (+MIDs) Facebook Group.  Please adapt, edit, and use as you’d like.