Explore more deeply what this scripture has to say about relationships in this seven-month series. How can we let Section 164:6a guide and shape us with new understanding in a world that is often more characterized by fear and separation than connectedness and hope? Send your comments to
Herald@CofChrist.org and we may print them in a future issue.

President Steve Veazey starts with a metaphor, telling us covenant is like the seat belt on a roller coaster. What do you think he means?
How does covenant figure into your sacramental life?
What does it mean for our perception of covenant when our understanding of sacrament grows or changes? Give examples.
In what ways is your congregation living out God’s covenant of peace? What must change for your congregation to do better?
How do God’s covenants with you affect the way you interact with other people or your community?
How does each of the five mission initiatives reflect the presence and importance of covenant?
How does the term covenant relate to the enduring principle of Grace and Generosity?
President Veazey says the term covenant, as found in Section 164, “promises spiritual strength to help people be faithful to their calling and to keep them true to their commitments.” Describe a time when you experienced covenant in this way.
We see covenant symbolized in many ways: rainbows, an empty cross, the emblems in Communion, and many more. What other symbols in church and everyday life remind you of covenants with God?
God’s covenants create a lasting bond with his people. In turn we, as congregations, often covenant to help and support other individuals. For example, a congregation might pledge its support for a youngster entering the waters of baptism. How does our covenant with another person differ from God’s covenant with us?

—Greg Clark
Integrated Communications

Covenant for Moral Relationships

BY STEPHEN M. VEAZEY, president of the church

As revealed in Christ, God, the Creator of all, ultimately is concerned about behaviors and relationships that uphold the worth and giftedness of all people and that protect the most vulnerable. Such relationships are to be rooted in the principles of Christ-like love, mutual respect, responsibility, justice, covenant, and faithfulness, against which there is no law.

If the church more fully will understand and consistently apply these principles, questions arising about responsible human sexuality; gender identities, roles, and relationships; marriage; and other issues may be resolved according to God’s divine purposes. Be assured nothing within these principles condones selfish, irresponsible, promiscuous, degrading, or abusive relationships. —Doctrine and Covenants 164:6a–b

I once was told covenant is like the seat belt on a roller coaster. Life is full of surprising “twists and turns.” Being mindful of the covenant of peace in Christ and sacramental covenants like baptism, confirmation, Communion, marriage, blessings, and ordination doesn’t “hold us back.” It helps us stay within the scope of faithfulness to God’s will as we live in the freedom of the gospel of Christ.

After completing Doctrine and Covenants 164, I noticed how many references there were to covenant (2d, 3b, 4b, 6a, 9b–c). Initial reference is made to baptism and confirmation (Doctrine and Covenants 164:2).

Baptism relates people to God, the eternal community of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit (Creator-Redeemer-Sanctifier,) as they express faith in Jesus Christ and commit to follow his way. That is why we baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

As implied in its name, confirmation “confirms” the Holy Spirit’s ministry that not only guides people to baptism, but helps them remain faithful to their baptism, discipleship, and church membership commitments (covenants).

Confirmation also acknowledges the Holy Spirit’s ongoing ministry that weaves people into the fabric of community—both congregation and worldwide church—and equips them to grow in discipleship. As stated in Doctrine and Covenants 164:2d, the commitment made through baptism and confirmation is active “discipleship expressed through covenant with God and others in sacred community.”

Doctrine and Covenants 164:3 again links baptism, discipleship, and full involvement in the faith community. It urges members to “actively and generously support the ministries of the church, which was divinely established to restore Christ’s covenant of peace, even the Zion of your hopes.”

Doctrine and Covenants 164:4 provides guidance about the nature and potential blessings of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. At its core, this sacrament is about remembering with all Christians the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Through this sacrament we become aware again—perhaps with deeper understanding—of the gift of God’s grace that comes to us in Jesus Christ as it is re-presented in the elements of the sacrament. We are reminded that Jesus Christ is God’s sacrament from which all other sacraments flow.

For Community of Christ, Communion is also an opportunity to reaffirm our baptism-confirmation covenant, reconcile strained relationships, and mutually commit to the church’s mission of promoting communities of generosity, justice, and peacefulness.

Communion can play a vital role in healing and strengthening the congregational community and concentrating it on the church’s mission.

A Changed Perspective

The guidance in Doctrine and Covenants 164:5–6 about moral behavior and relationships challenges the church to fully align with God’s revelation in Christ. Baptism in Christ results in changed perspective that no longer relies on the “old divisions” like rich or poor, slave or free, Jew or Gentile (nationality), and sex or gender. (Note: Sex typically refers to biological characteristics, and gender refers to a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors.)

The result of people being baptized in Christ is an amazing new community characterized by “tolerance, reconciliation, unity in diversity, and love.” The degree to which this community in Christ is faithful to Christ’s vision and is accessible to all is the degree to which people can experience real hope for God’s coming kingdom.

Of course, a community striving for “tolerance, reconciliation, unity in diversity, and love” will have issues to resolve arising from the colorful pallet of human differences. Note the word “tolerance” is not used in the begrudging sense of simply “putting up” with others.

Most dictionaries provide a range of definitions for the term “tolerance.” Maurice Draper has been helpful in pointing to the particular relevance…for the theological process. In the first place, and probably most obvious, tolerance refers to freedom from bigotry, the maintenance of a fair and objective attitude exhibited by individuals in their relationships with others.—Geoffrey F. Spencer, The Hazards of Theology, page 125

The preface to paragraphs 5 and 6 in Doctrines and Covenants lists examples of pressing moral issues facing the church as we pursue our mission throughout the world. Then we are given counsel about how to proceed.

We are told to focus on building relationships rooted in fundamental “principles” of moral behavior. Doctrine and Covenants 164:6a identifies these principles as the worth and giftedness of all people, protection of the most vulnerable, Christ-like love, mutual respect, responsibility, justice, covenant, and faithfulness. Each is grounded in the eternal being of God, who lives in perfect love, mutuality, and commitment.

We are assured that if we will “more fully understand” and “consistently apply” (justly apply) these principles, more-specific questions—many driven by human history and culture—can be resolved within God’s purposes. We also are assured that nothing within them condones “selfish, irresponsible, promiscuous, degrading, or abusive relationships.”

These “opposites” of the principles describe behaviors that are sinful no matter who—male, female, heterosexual, or homosexual—is involved.
The principles and their opposites help define expectations for moral relationships for life together in Christ beyond which we wander at our own peril. The remaining challenge is to apply the principles through the guidance of the Holy Spirit to the specific questions pressing the church in many nations.

Making a Wholehearted Response

The last Doctrine and Covenants reference to covenant, 164:9b, draws us back to consider the “big picture” of the gospel and the church’s mission:

The rise of Zion the beautiful, the peaceful reign of Christ, awaits your wholehearted response to the call to make and steadfastly hold to God’s covenant of peace in Jesus Christ.

Paragraph 9c provides some primary expectations for living in God’s grace-filled peace through Christ:

Sacramental living—See, respect, proclaim, and demonstrate God’s graceful presence and reconciling activity in creation. That is, find where “shalom” (God’s peace) is appearing and devote yourself to its full emergence.
Whole-life stewardship—All that you are and have can be used to promote God’s desire for peace throughout creation. This includes generously supporting the church’s “restoring” (reconciling, healing, community-building) ministries.
Restoring ministries—Engage in ministries that make God’s peace real in the lives of people and communities. These include:
- Asserting the Worth of All Persons. Assert means to vigorously promote the worth of persons, not just passively affirm them.
- Protecting the Sacredness of Creation. The Earth and all of its human and non-human facets are included in the sacredness of creation and God’s covenant of peace.
- Relieving physical and spiritual suffering. Provide hope and healing through caring ministry and actions focused on alleviating the causes of human suffering

The vision presented by Section 164 is a church that is a community of disciples “called” by God’s grace to pursue God’s covenant of peace. This call is especially evident in the church’s sacraments—all of which have elements of covenant. They focus on receiving God’s grace through Christ and aligning our lives with God’s purposes.

Congregations that embrace the vision of God’s covenant of peace and the blessings of sacramental covenant are strengthened, focused, and energized in their pursuit of the mission of Jesus Christ.