FCB Covenant: Moving Toward Decision

The Covenant Task Force will host an important meeting on Sunday, February 4. This group is charged with guiding the congregation toward a new foundational covenant or bond of fellowship. This new covenant form will replace our traditional "Ames Covenant."

Over the past several months, our first Sunday readings have introduced us to various forms of covenant used in different times and places within our historic UU tradition. While varied in their language, these covenant statements typically emphasize a few common themes.  While the UUA's "Seven Principles" voice core shared values and provide moral guidance to UU congregations and individual members throughout our denomination, a covenant statement plays a different role. It is a pledge we make to each other. It expresses our commitment to join together on this leg of life's journey in this specific church community in the heart of Belmont to provide mutual support as we each strive to lead our lives in the light of these shared principles. The most effective covenant statements, experience shows, are typically brief, poetic, memorable, and memorizable so that they might be easily recited a handful of times each year in worship services.

At this meeting, we will discuss and refine a decision process to be used in the coming months to arrive at a form of covenant that can be adopted at our spring 2024 Annual Meeting. Please attend if you can, and also be on the lookout for additional information on this process in the coming weeks, before or after worship services, on a bulletin board display in the Upper Gathering Hall.

The FCB Covenant Task Force

Chairman: John Howe

Members:  Nicole Bernstein, Louise Bray, Pam Eggert, Margaret Marks, Bob McGaw, Richard Waring, Cameron Anderson