Their organizing document says explicitly that while officers and ministers can be helpful they are not absolutely necessary for the congregation to be healthy. Admittedly, there is a long section in there too speculating about possible roles for ministers, deacons, pastoral visitors, teachers, treasurers and all that. These people are not anarchists after all. They like a good committee as well as the next.

They have a lovely process for being with each other in times of conflict, encouraging people to talk first directly to the person they're having trouble with, and if that doesn't work ask another person to help them reconcile. If the conflict becomes intractable, this community recognizes that someone might need to leave, since the peace and well being of the whole is more important than that of any single individual. But they also promise one another that they won't just leave - they promise not to remove themselves from fellowship on a whim. They specifically say that being mad at another member is not reason enough to leave. They liken people leaving to pulling pieces of timber from a building or limbs from a whole person. Because folks join the community by entering into covenant, folks can only leave by being released from that covenant. 

They avoid using the term "independent" to describe their relationship to other congregations. They celebrate that each church is distinct, with special gifts and challenges, and that while churches certainly don't have control over each other they are nonetheless all connected. 

Here's my favorite part. This congregation lays out in delicious detail the ways they will show up for their neighboring congregations. They promise to look out for their neighbors' welfare, and consult with them when they ask for help. They promise to tell hard truths if they see folks acting in ways that are unhealthy. They promise to worship and celebrate together, to share resources, and to work together to expand their faith in the world.

This, my friends, is a community that understands what it means to be Unitarian Universalist, where independence and covenant alchemize into precious religious life.

Where is this congregation? It is here, in each of us, in our DNA as Unitarians, Universalists and Unitarian Universalists, for the congregations whose story I just told came together in Cambridge in 1648. These are our ancestors, yours and mine, the authors of the "congregational way". The Cambridge Platform - in which the story I tell above comes to life - was not a declaration of independence. It was a declaration of covenant, of interdependence.

 

As the new church year begins I hope your heart turns to interdependence. I hope you remember that there is a community of congregations and people to whom you belong, and who belong to you.

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Our Regional Lead Rev. Sue Phillips will be on sabbatical from September 10-December 17th.  Feel free to call the Regional office at 617-948-6415 or be in touch with any Regional staff person if you have questions in Sue's absence.