The Promise and the Practice Litany: The Promise That Binds

Viola Abbitt

Loving inclusion has been an elusive goal within our congregations.

   We are a covenantal people, and the promise of our faith, which was enough to bring us together, should have been enough to bind us together in love.

Many hearts have been, and often continue to be, broken, time and again.

   We are a covenantal people, and the promise of our faith, which was enough to bring us together, should have been enough to bind us together in love.

The names of many of those of us who helped to make this denomination great were erased, their existence forgotten.

   We are a covenantal people, and the promise of our faith, which was enough to bring us together, should have been enough to bind us together in love.

The pulpits and pews which should have been warm and welcoming, were instead sometimes cold and unforgiving.

   We are a covenantal people, and the promise of our faith, which was enough to bring us together, should have been enough to bind us together in love.

People who were considered pillars in their communities, were sometimes considered pariahs within the walls of our congregations.

   We are a covenantal people, and the promise of our faith, which was enough to bring us together, should have been enough to bind us together in love.

Many of us straddle two worlds: one of filiation and one of faith.

   We are a covenantal people, and the promise of our faith, which was enough to bring us together, should be enough to bind us together in love.

Our beauty is that we are all different, and yet not different from one another. None of us should be considered exceptions, nor should we be subjected to baseless assumptions.

   We are a covenantal people, and the promise of our faith, which was enough to bring us together, should be enough to bind us together in love.

The future of this faith is reliant on and belongs to all who embrace religious liberalism. Let us never forget that…

   We are a covenantal people, and the promise of our faith, which was enough to bring us together, is enough to bind us together in love.