It’s easy for us to forget that people are inherently worthy. That our relationships are holy. That our connections are sacred. We get flooded with a lot of messages that suggest otherwise. We get wrapped up in our passionate commitments to events and initiatives, and we forget for a hot second about being interdependent. We even forget to really take in the words of a covenant we read every week to remind us about what we hold sacred. The words are too familiar, maybe. We’re distracted by other things and go on autopilot, perhaps.

Interdependence isn’t a burden. The interdependent web of existence isn’t a trap to escape. Honoring our interdependence makes us more fully alive. Honoring our interdependence—honoring that we are inextricably interwoven with all the beings around us—that’s what saves us from trying to earn or prove our worthiness. That’s what keeps us from trying to hide and protect ourselves from one another. Interdependence is our foundation stone.  

So, what does that mean in practical terms? What does it mean to covenant to create safe and brave space when someone does a job differently from how we would do it? How do we celebrate differences when another person, out of deep love for the community, suggests a different way of tending to a ministry? Or when someone makes a mistake in the midst of trying something new? It’s easy to forget that our relationships are sacred ground. That we’re speaking to (or emailing or texting) holiness when we communicate with one another. God/dess speaking to God/dess. 

We covenant to cultivate trust. On Sunday, we said that this word implies a commitment to consistent work of loving presence and sacred tending of our connections. We also acknowledged that part of that tending is repairing things when they get damaged. That bit is right there in our congregational covenant too. It’s easy to ignore. Especially when we have big feelings about things.

As Unitarian Universalists, we covenant to embody Liberating Love through a set of life-affirming values. Our love has the potential to liberate the people around us. And it has the power to liberate us too. When we take responsibility for creating safe and brave space for other people, we become agents of mutual liberation.

Our society promotes an extractive, transactional way of relating. What can I get from you without giving more than feels comfortable? How can I get you to do what I want the way I want it done? Being part of a spiritual community means doing things differently. Counter-culturally. It’s easy for us—Unitarian Universalists especially—to forget that we’re a church. A community that commits to doing relationship counterculturally.

We can accomplish a lot of things together. And also, nothing we do is more important than tending our relationships in a way that honors our values. That is the sacrament we choose. It’s how our covenant names the sacred. What is holy? We are. Each of us, as part of an interdependent web. And the connections between us. All of that is what we claim as sacred. Holy beings creating holy ground.

It’s easy to forget. It’s important to help one another remember. One holy piece of a sacred web to another.