Our religious ancestors were extremely specific about the web of connection they wanted to weave. In the Cambridge Platform, churches promise to take care of one another, consult one another, welcome members from other churches, share ministers, and provide "relief and succor" in times of need. New congregations promise to offer the "right hand of fellowship" to existing ones, and large congregations pledge to propagate new ones. We would be hard-pressed to construct a more relevant list today.

I want our people to be and feel connected to the larger community of faith, not in a general way, but in a specific way. I want to see groups of leaders show up when a neighboring congregation is in trouble or celebrating. I want to see leaders from one congregation show up to help another figure out what to do with their building and legacy when they dissolve. I want our Association to become brokers of these relationships, to re-focus on enabling meaningful covenantal connection among and beyond congregations. A good first step would be to help our people engage in real, tangible covenant making.

Last month in the Mass Bay District, a group of six leaders from three neighboring congregations showed up to help another congregation's leaders discern how to transform a conflict situation. They weren't there as experts or consultants but as benevolent companions. They listened and asked questions. It was beautiful to behold.

Their presence made a difference. The visiting leaders were wise and soulful and experienced in the same dynamics. Yet it was their presence that mattered most, not their counsel. What mattered was the embodied companionship and witness.

It's time to galvanize these implicit connections into something deeper, more explicit, and more accessible - something that will help us reinterpret and reactivate congregational polity for the 21^st century.