Guest Blog by Karl Bach
We are travelers.
We meet for moment in this sacred place
To love, to share, to serve.
Let us use compassion, curiosity, reverence and respect
While seeking our truths.
In this way we will support a just and joyful community,
And this moment shall endure.
In 1997 when our Fellowship began its services in our new church building (now our Fellowship Hall) in Port Townsend, an initial group of about 50 congregants gathered to write both a mission statement and a covenant. Following a process of small groups sharing in several phases, a covenant (stated above) was penned by member Marcia Lewton (now residing in Colorado with her family).
The covenant speaks to us in several ways. It describes us as fellow seekers on different paths searching for spiritual truth and guidance. We come from various religious and spiritual traditions seeking answers to the “big” questions of life and ways of living meaningfully.
The sacred place is where we gather reverently as a church family to share with one another. We seek comfort in the presence of one another and a feeling of love and belonging. During this time of pandemic, of quarantining and social distancing, this gathering is difficult to do, but we can be in contact with each other by letter, email, telephone, or a Zoom or Skype or Facetime meeting. It is important that we do so.
Recognizing that each of us is unique in our quest, we covenant to respect one another’s search with compassion, curious also that we might find new wisdom from the search of another person. We need to acknowledge that a different manner of belief by another person is valid to them even though it may not be similar to our own.
Acting out of reverence for life and the love for our human family, we find ways to serve one another in society. Our concern for social justice in all its forms is expressed by our personal participation and our financial support.
Let us keep in our minds and hearts the words of our covenant. This covenant is our promise to one another and a guide for us all.
Thank you Karl for your thoughts and remembrance. “…Acting out of reverence for life and the love for our human family…” And thank you Barbara Morey for “…learning to work through different and conflicting perspectives and proposals beyond saying “No.”
Oh, Julia, well said. We are disparate groups longing for community. Your suggested actions could help us stop milling around or hiding and get us headed, together, toward that ideal.
Thank you Julia. I agree that we need to develop the path and actions of our fellowship to be more inclusive of those on our margins, to be more open to voices that we may not be comfortable hearing, and to expand our view beyond facilities and programs to a true living of our social justice principles in our organization as well as our personal lives, and learning to work through different and conflicting perspectives and proposals beyond saying “No.”
Julia thank you. “Center the marginalized”. Inspiring!
I love our covenant statement, and I love Marcia Lewton, who I believe is no longer with us. That said, in today’s world I believe that we need a stronger covenant that does not assume we are on an equal playing field wrapped in community. Some of us sit on the margins looking for ways in. My covenant would include things like speak authentically, center the marginalized, honor the differences present, do not suppress conflict but work through it, and many other such thoughts. Her words are the ideal but not the path to get there.