“A covenant is a living, breathing aspiration, made new every day. It can’t be enforced by consequences but it may be reinforced by forgiveness and by grace when we stumble, when we forget, when we mess up.” -Victoria Safford
How have you practiced forgiveness and grace in covenant?
“Being strong in covenant is not being certain of the destination toward which we are traveling or even the path that will take us there. Being strong in covenant is choosing to travel together despite all the uncertainties and maybe even because of them, unsure of where we are headed but knowing how much it matters that we are willing to move in directions we might not yet understand or predict.“-Mark Stringer
What are your experiences of being strong in your promise to travel together with someone?
“It is covenant that brings us out of isolation, out of selfish concerns, out of individualism, to join ourselves to something greater, to become a part of a community that is working to practice love, to dwell together in peace, to seek knowledge and wisdom together, to find better ways to live our lives and live in the world. This…is sacred, religious work.” -Susan Frederick-Gray
When and how have you chosen to join yourself to something greater than you?
“Choosing to enter into covenant with other people in a congregation, to make such a promise, begins with choosing to walk through the doors of a faith community again for the first time in a long time. It continues when we choose to try again after betrayal, when we choose to trust each other, though each of us knows the anguish of broken trust, when we choose to love each other instead of fear each other.” -Megan Lloyd Joiner
When have you chosen to try again after betrayal? How did you reestablish trust?
Covenants are sacred promised that bind us together. They can be used to keep people out or to invite people in to relationship and connection.
How have you experienced covenants used to invite deeper connection?
