By-Laws, Covenant, Sources, & Purposes:

Because we have expressed that:

Thus do we covenant:

To abide in friendship, by:

• Appreciating our differences and celebrating our diversity;
• Enjoying each other’s company in fellowship and fun;
• Encouraging each other;
• Supporting each other’s spiritual growth;
• Giving and receiving help in times of need;
• Participating in the activities of our community, both formal and unstructured;
• Embracing radical hospitality toward newcomers and each other;

To resolve our misunderstandings in a spirit of love and accountability by:

• Assuming that others behave with good intentions;
• Listening with an open heart to each other’s opinions, ideas, life experiences and concerns;
• Working honestly through conflicts directly with those involved in a spirit of kindness and understanding;
• Offering and accepting apologies and forgiveness;
• Respecting differing voices and honoring dissent;
• Cooperating in a spirit of compromise and consensus toward the well-being of the community as a whole; and

To build a strong, diverse, and multicultural Beloved Community by:

• Supporting one another in our efforts to help our congregation thrive;
• Honoring and respecting the work of our leadership, ministries, committees and dedicated individuals;
• Building on our congregation’s legacy of working with community partners in solidarity and with accountability to challenge and dismantle systemic racism and to nurture and sustain an inclusive community;
• Working to recognize and undo other oppressions as well within ourselves and our congregational culture;
• Contributing generously of our time, talents, and financial resources;
• Accepting the call to leadership with openness, warmth, and humor;
• Being realistic about our commitments, choosing to do what brings us fulfillment and what we are able to complete; and
• Expressing gratitude for one another’s contributions.

The living tradition which we share draws from many sources:

1. Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
2. Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;
3. Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;
4. Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
5. Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit.
6. Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.

Grateful for the religious pluralism which enriches and ennobles our faith, we are inspired to deepen our understanding and expand our vision. As free congregations we enter into this covenant, promising to one another our mutual trust and support.

The Unitarian Universalist Association shall devote its resources to and exercise its corporate powers for religious, educational and humanitarian purposes. The primary purpose of the Association is to serve the needs of its member congregations, organize new congregations, extend and strengthen Unitarian Universalist institutions and implement its principles.

The Association declares and affirms its special responsibility, and that of its member societies and organizations, to promote the full participation of persons in all of its and their activities and in the full range of human endeavor without regard to race, color, sex, disability, affectional or sexual orientation, age, or national origin and without requiring adherence to any particular interpretation of religion or to any particular religious belief or creed.

Nothing herein shall be deemed to infringe upon the individual freedom of belief which is inherent in the Universalist and Unitarian heritages or to conflict with any statement of purpose, covenant, or bond of union used by any society unless such is used as a creedal test.