Covenant of Light: Praying For and With Each Other

This resource is a gift from the Rev. Kelly Colwell, an authorized minister in the NCNC who created the original Prayer Cycle as part of her Member in Discernment process in advance of ordination. It has been updated by Conference staff to reflect changes since the original resource was published. We continue to be grateful for her spiritual leadership and the ongoing legacy of her nurturing a common prayer life for our Conference inspired by our covenant.

In the UCC, we are a denomination of sacred promises.

Rather than laws, rules, or strings, we are bound to each other by the covenant we make with each other. More than a collection of local churches, richer and more creative than a structure, stronger than a ministerial, we bind ourselves as local churches into Associations, Conferences, Regions, and even a Denomination through covenants. Covenants are the shape of our relationships to each other, and while we maintain nearly total autonomy for local churches to act, we also call on each other to respect the actions of all other settings of the church. Our 1959 Statement of Faith names the ultimate source of all our covenants:

“You bestow upon us your holy Spirit, creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ, binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races…”

We proclaim that God has bound us in covenant with each other at every level of our denomination. We proclaim that God has given us to each other for mutual benefit, as we have written in our statement of covenant. God has brought us together to support each other, to challenge each other, to appreciate each other, to help each other, to share our dreams and visions with each other. Our faithful God is continually calling us to be in closer and more faithful relationships with each other across the Conference.

In these relationships, we can truly rejoice in each other’s blessings and weep for each other’s sorrows. We can raise money for each other when tragedy strikes, invite each other to share events and experiences, offer each other resources, teach each other our best practices. We can bear witness to each other about what God is doing in our own midst. Sometimes we can bear witness to what we see God doing in our neighbor’s context, helping each other recognize the presence of the Holy One. We can be rightly proud and grateful for our rich relationships within our Conference. We are in covenant with each other, and we are bound to live up to the promises we have made to each other.