UUCC Covenant Between the Minister & the Congregation

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One year ago (June 6, 2021) our congregation voted to call Randy Partain as its first settled minister. This week, on Sunday, June 5, 2022 the Congregation officially installed Randy as its minister. If you were unable to attend you can view it on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSUqU6BUIFQ) or Facebook (https://fb.watch/dtUbb12qoU/). 

During the Installation Service the Congregation and Randy made commitments to each other in the form of a covenant. Whether you were there or not it is worth a read (or re-read). We are a covenantal faith – our promises to each other are what gives us structure. It’s good to have words put to this commitment. Note: this covenant is different from a Congregation Covenant, which we’ll be working on that over the next year.

UUCC Covenant between the Minister and the Congregation

Congregation: As a congregation, our purpose is to foster community within and without, to nurture an ever-searching and ever-growing spirituality, and to demonstrate justice in action. We have chosen this faith, and we have chosen this minister to join with us in shaping our community and our world. We trust that the minister we have called has committed their life to the same purpose.

Minister: In covenant with the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Cleveland, I give my word:

  • to lead worship and create rituals that help give shape to the events of our lives.
  • to care for you in times of need and celebrate your joys with you; 
  • to accept your shortcomings, offer gentle guidance, and listen with love.
  • to teach and learn with you, young people, adults, and elders alike.
  • to support your works of justice and compassion, empowering you to take the teachings of our faith beyond these walls; 
  • to speak the truth in love, challenging and inspiring our community to build a better world.
  • and to remember the vision of beloved community we all share, and serve it with heart, soul, and might.

Congregation: As a congregation we give our word:

  • to work with you, our minister, to create meaningful worship and rituals.
  • to care for one another in times of need and celebrate one another’s joys; 
  • to accept one another’s shortcomings, offer one another gentle guidance, and listen to each other with love.
  • to teach and learn with you, our minister, remembering that we are all learning all the time.
  • to grow toward justice and act with compassion, taking the teachings of our faith beyond these walls; 
  • to speak the truth in love, challenging and inspiring all of us to build a better world.
  • to bring our authentic selves vulnerably into the beloved community we co-create together.

All: As congregation and professional minister, we join together in this ministry. We honor the history of this congregation, and pledge our ongoing support to transform its sacred visions into reality. We offer our mutual blessings on this great and holy endeavor.

So may it be.