“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.'“ John 17:22-23
Mark II: Nuturing UCC Identity
There are many ways to understand the Church.
Some understand it primarily through doctrine.
Others through institutional authority.
Others through tradition.
The United Church of Christ has taught me to understand the Church through the language of covenant.
I have come to understand the Church not primarily as an institution to which I belong, but as a covenant into which I have been welcomed and to which I now joyfully commit my life.
This has become one of the most important theological discoveries of my ministerial life.
Growing up, I often imagined faith as agreement—holding the correct beliefs, defending the right doctrines, and arriving at certainty. Community naturally formed around those shared convictions. When certainty fractured, community often fractured with it.
Over time, my understanding of faith began to change.
As my theology became more contemplative and my ministry brought me into relationship with people whose lives, beliefs, and experiences differed profoundly from my own, I discovered that genuine spiritual community cannot be sustained by agreement alone.
It must be sustained by covenant.
The United Church of Christ gave me language for something I had already begun to experience through chaplaincy.
Covenant is not a contract.
It is not enforced by fear.
It is not maintained through uniformity.
Covenant is a freely chosen relationship rooted in mutual love, mutual responsibility, and the continual work of the Holy Spirit among God's people.
That understanding changed the way I understood ministry.
As a hospital chaplain, I cannot assume that every patient shares my theology.
Some identify as deeply Christian.
Others as Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, atheist, agnostic, or spiritual in ways that resist simple categories.
Still others have been profoundly wounded by religious institutions and carry understandable hesitation toward anyone representing the Church.
Yet every encounter begins with the same covenantal question:
How may I faithfully enter into relationship with this person?
Not to persuade.
Not to defend.
Not to fix.
But to accompany.
That is covenant.
My grandmother, the Rev. Charlottie Havlicak, often described faith using the image of an old wagon wheel.
"There are many spokes," she would say, "but one hub. The hub is Love."
I have carried that image with me throughout my ministry.
The beauty of a wheel is not that every spoke is identical.
Its strength comes from each spoke remaining connected to the center.
I believe covenant functions much the same way.
Within the United Church of Christ, congregations, conferences, associations, clergy, and lay leaders each bring distinctive voices, histories, and perspectives.
Yet we remain connected through our shared covenant in Christ.
Unity is not sameness.
Unity is faithfulness to Love.
Jesus prays in John's Gospel,
"That they may all be one."
For many years I understood those words to mean agreement.
Today I hear something different.
Jesus prays not for uniformity but for communion.
A communion capable of holding diversity without dissolving relationship.
That prayer has become increasingly meaningful as I have ministered in healthcare.
Hospital rooms constantly remind me that every human being bears the image of God while experiencing life through profoundly different stories.
Covenant teaches me to honor those stories without surrendering my own identity as a follower of Christ.
This understanding has also shaped my participation in the wider life of the United Church of Christ.
Serving on the worship planning team for the Rocky Mountain Conference Annual Celebration became one of the clearest expressions of covenant I have experienced.
Clergy, musicians, lay leaders, volunteers, and conference staff each offered unique gifts.
No single person carried the vision alone.
Together we created worship centered on the theme Oasis in the Desert: Rivers of Life, inviting the gathered church to remember that living water is discovered most fully when we journey together.
That experience reinforced something chaplaincy had already taught me.
Ministry is never a solitary accomplishment.
It is always a shared vocation.
Likewise, my local congregation has become a place where I continue to discern my call in community.
The Committee on Ministry, my conference colleagues, and fellow worship leaders have each participated in my formation.
Ordination itself is perhaps the Church's most beautiful expression of covenant.
It is not merely the recognition of individual gifts.
It is the Church saying,
"We see God's call in you, and we promise to walk with you as you continue to live into it."
That mutual promise carries tremendous humility.
The United Church of Christ's commitments to continuing testament, extravagant welcome, and changing lives naturally flow from this covenantal understanding.
The continuing testament reminds me that the Holy Spirit continues to lead Christ's Church into deeper wisdom.
Extravagant welcome reminds me that covenant begins with hospitality.
Changing lives reminds me that covenant is never passive.
Love always transforms those who practice it.
As my ministry continues, I have come to understand covenant less as something I possess and more as something I practice.
Every patient.
Every worship service.
Every funeral.
Every interdisciplinary meeting.
Every conference gathering.
Every difficult conversation.
Each becomes another opportunity to choose relationship over certainty, presence over power, listening over assumption, and Love over fear.
That is the Church I have found in the United Church of Christ.
And it is the Church I am honored to serve.
