Unitarian Universalism & Our Tradition Of Covenant

Rev. Tina DeYoe. Courtesy photo

BY TINA DEYOE
Minister
Unitarian Church of Los Alamos

Are you searching for an interfaith, pluralistic community? Are you looking for a community that will help you in your free and responsible search for truth and meaning in life? Do you live your life based upon values of love, justice, equity, transformation, generosity, and interdependence?

Are you looking for an anti-authoritarian, spiritually-based community? Are you looking for a community that upholds the importance of freedom, reason, hope, right of conscience, and courage? If you answered yes to some of these questions, then The Unitarian Church of Los Alamos might be a community for you!

Whoever you are, whomever you love, whatever your image of the holy, wherever you are on your life’s journey, you are welcome here!

We are a community that loves beyond belief. We have no dogma or doctrine that is dictated to us. We are a community based upon a covenant of shared values. We uphold these shared values together in community while exploring our differing opinions, thoughts, and beliefs.

We meet together as a community and worship together on Sunday mornings at 10:30am. Kid,
youth, and adult programs follow our worship service time. We are lifelong learners who seek to learn from one another and from everyone’s diversity of backgrounds, ethnicity, and beliefs.
We uphold traditions of religious freedom and freedom of thought. Our covenantal tradition has biblical roots, as well as, roots in the protestant Christian reformation out of Europe.
Church is where we go to grow our hearts, and covenants are how we practice growing our hearts together with others in community. Covenants are based in our shared and lived values
as a community. Unitarian Universalism is a living tradition, we have evolved over time and keep evolving. Covenants are living documents that need revision as the world around us changes.

Covenants can be changed and are meant to be changed and updated.

This past May of 2025, our Unitarian Church of Los Alamos passed our Congregational
Covenant. Here is the text of our Covenant:

“Guided by our shared values as Unitarian Universalists and centered by love, we hereby covenant to…
Be open to all, welcoming everyone who comes to us, and opening ourselves to the wisdom,
strength, and challenges that come from the differences among us;
Be kind, cultivating empathy and joy while promoting justice, equity, and compassion;
Trust and be trustworthy, fostering trust, practicing patience, and speaking our truth directly
and with compassion;
Strive to understand, listening with sincerity and love, assuming the positive intent of others,
and keeping our discussions to substance rather than personalities;
Speak thoughtfully, engaging with loving kindness when we witness disrespectful interactions,
acknowledging our fallibility, and practicing forgiveness;
Work to resolve conflict, exercising effort to understand the views of others, and making
amends when intentions and impact collide;
Accept democratic outcomes, collaborating in decision making, being open to compromise,
and supporting the decisions of the group;
Be a steward, contributing at a level that is healthy for us as individuals intellectually, financially,
and with gifts of time and energy.

By this covenant, we shall grow our hearts together, building an environment of trust, joy, and
celebration in our beloved community.”

If you are curious to learn more about our community, join us for worship services in October at 10:30am!

Sunday, Oct. 12: “Holding Hope, Seeking Strength” In observance of World Mental Health Day on Oct. 10- Rev. Tina DeYoe & Mimi Adams

Sunday, Oct. 19: “Consciousness, Consciousness, What Really Art Thou?” — Stephen Ledoux

Sunday, Oct. 26: “Compassion Fatigue & Compassion Resilience” — Terry Beery, Kris Mazza, & Rev. Tina DeYoe

Sunday, Nov. 2: “A Day of Remembrance/Samhain” – Rev. Tina DeYoe

More about Unitarian Universalist communities across the United States can be found here:
https://www.uua.org.

More information about our Unitarian Universalist church community here in Los Alamos, NM
can be found here: https://www.uulosalamos.org/