THEOLOGY - continued

Covenant, 3rd paragraph

The third paragraph of the Covenant of The United Church continues the emphasis of the first two paragraphs in centering on the promises we make in reciting the Covenant;

“Realizing that the success of the church depends upon the consecration of its individual membership, I covenant to uphold it by my prayers, to attend its services, to contribute to its support, to labor to maintain its peace and harmony, and, as far as possible, in every way to promote its temporal and spiritual welfare.”

For the first time in the Covenant we come across the word church and we note, significantly, that it is spelled with a lower-case “c” rather than an upper case “C.” It is, in fact, one of the few religious or theological words in the Covenant that is not capitalized. It is a small “c” because it is not speaking of The United Church of Los Alamos. It is speaking of the universal church. That is the church in which we consecrate our membership.

The church is divinely ordained to live in response to Jesus as Lord. We are called by Christ not to live alone but to live in community or fellowship with one another. So it is that we come together as the Body of Christ, and it is through this Body that much of Christ’s work is done within our world and lives today. To believe in Christ is to become a part of the fellowship and to live as a member of the family of believers. The church is important.