Covenant vs. Creed

In my previous post (“What do Unitarian Universalists Believe?”), I explained that Unitarian Universalism is non-creedal, so that what joins us to one another in our congregations is not a shared belief system, but rather a shared commitment to supporting one another in our spiritual journey.

Rev. Thom Belote, at the Shawnee Mission UU Church in Overland Park, Kansas, is preaching and posting to his blog an amazing sermon series on being a covenantal church. And, to make this topic even more appealing, all of the sermons are based on movies!

His first sermon in the series, is “Raiding the Lost Ark,” in which he considers the difference between a covenantal church and a creedal church.

The second is “Sunday Morning Lights.” This sermon goes into more depth about the covenant of membership in a UU congregation, exploring what it is that members of a congregation commit to doing and being for one another.

The third is “Keeping the Faith/Encouraging Faith,” and it discusses “the covenants we share about helping one another to grow spiritually.”

There are two ideas from this series that have been particularly interesting to me.

One, I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of covenant recently, as I’ve been questioning what commitments hold my own church together, even as we are going through many changes. All three of these sermons have helped me consider this question more deeply.

Two, there’s a great passage in the third sermon in which Rev. Belote encourages parishioners to challenge one another more, to call out the best in one another, rather than being complacent about one another’s spiritual journey. He says,

I have an outstanding colleague with whom I serve on a national-level UU committee. The first time I met him, he asked me within three minutes of meeting me, “How is your spiritual practice?” I was without a good answer. I got defensive and think I might have barked something back like, “How is YOUR spiritual practice.” And then the second time he met me, he asked, “Thom, how is your spiritual practice?” And then the third, and then the fourth, this same question. By the fourth time, I knew I was going to have to answer him. Yes, this was annoying. It was relentless. I was being encouraged to spiritual growth.

How often do these questions turn up in the relationships we share with each other in this congregation? How often do we ask each other questions like:

“How is your prayer life?”
“How is your meditation going?”
“How are you dealing with that (choose one of the following) anger, insecurity, fear, disappointment, loneliness, grief, guilt, frustration, emptiness, depression, etc.?

This passage struck a chord with me. I’d like to think I’d always know the right questions to ask myself, but the truth is that none of us can do it alone. At the same time, others around us need spiritual support as well, and we should consider how we can best offer that support in a way that is respectful and compassionate.