IV. Vows of
Voluntary Sacrifice
“We freely offer up our appetites, wealth, and
pride to relieve the suffering of the world, for the sake of our neighbors and
God’s joy.”
- I will seek out and yield to the counsel and direction of my sisters and brothers for growing into the Spirit and likeness of Jesus Christ; I will regularly examine my life under these vows, and seek the aid and instruction of my brothers and sisters for growing in faithfulness.
There
is one unavoidable piece that hasn’t yet been mentioned in these twenty
Covenant vows: the necessity of participating in Christian faith community. If
our nonviolent discipleship to Jesus is to cover every aspect of our life and have the strength to last through the
ups and downs of our entire lives, it
will have to be formed in Christ’s own body, the church. Granted, it’s true we
can all think of folks we know who better exemplify bits and pieces of these peacemaking
vows who aren’t consistently, deeply networked into a Christian faith community—they
may not even consider themselves to be Christian. It may even be you trying to
live Jesus’ cross-bearing life on your own! But there is something about Jesus’
call that is not possible outside of his community of people.
