By Rev. Rebecca Bryan
Good morning. Today I wanted to talk with you about a lot of words. Bear with me. I’ll keep it simple. 

I want to talk about five words to start, and then we are going to do something really cool. 

The words that I want to talk about are: 

Covenant, affirmation, faith, discipline and art. 

These are all words that you may hear at church and elsewhere. I wonder what do they mean? As I explain each of these, I’m going to have us all do something, because for most of us doing something helps us to learn. Right? 

Let’s start with covenant:

1. A covenant, as we mean it here, is a promise. It means, I give my word, or I will try my best to…

Our church is built on covenant, promises that we make to one another. We covenant to uphold our UU seven principles and sources of our faith. 

Take the hand of someone next to you for a moment. Remember as you hold someone’s hand, that is covenant. 

2. Affirmation:

An affirmation means to say again, remind, or confirm. Each week we all say together, out loud, our Affirmation of Faith. (hold up banner)

Why don’t we take two fingers and put them into our own hands and hold them close? This is what we are doing when we affirm something. 

3. Faith: 

Faith is how we can best make sense of this world. Faith helps us to find meaning. Most important, our faith is what restores our hope, or energy when we get tired, or afraid, or overwhelmed, as we all do. Let’s hold our hands over our hearts to enact a symbol of faith. 

There are just two more words. 

4. Discipline:

Discipline as I am using it today means to learn. We have disciplines in our life, like going to church, so that we may learn and grow closer to our ideals. Let’s take a finger to our head as a reminder to ourselves of discipline. 

And, 

5. Art: 

Art is a form of self-expression. Art comes in many forms. All of us are artists. In fact, our lives themselves are beautiful pieces of art. Art is not about being perfect. It’s another way to connect, share, and appreciate. Let’s put our hands up to the sky and open them to symbolize art. 

When we speak our affirmation of faith each week, 

We are confirming what gives us hope. 

We both learn from, this and we express ourselves this way. 

Let’s say the words together: 

Love is the doctrine of this church,

The quest of truth is its sacrament,

And service is its prayer.

To dwell together in peace,

To seek knowledge in freedom,

To serve humankind in fellowship,

To the end that all souls shall grow into harmony with the Divine 

Thus do we covenant with each other and with God.

Guess what we are going to do with this banner!? We are all going to sign it with our names or with any mark of art. And you all get to be first! 

You are going to carry this out as we sing you out, and then you will sign it downstairs. When you are finished, your guides will bring it back upstairs and leave it in the vestibule where everyone here today is invited to stop and sign it on the way out today. We will have it next week too so that those who are not here today can sign it. And then we are going to hang it outside of our church’s front doors.