Contractual vs Covenantal
As we design new models that make the existing models obsolete, it is imperative that we adopt different words and language to describe the new. And sometimes to reanimate old words that have been forgotten.
A contract is to make an agreement. It is, in our current world, generally written into law. We sign a contract. If one party breaks the contract, then the contract is nullified.
A covenant is a mutual compact to do something or not. It may or may not be signed into law. If one party breaks the agreement, the covenant persists.
The Declaration of Independence was a covenant. There was an agreement that the covenant transcended the acts of one person or signatory.
When we make a covenant, we take an enduring stand for an agreement that mutually honours those within the covenant. Not necessarily till death, we do part, nor till the end of time, but above and beyond the petty desires of our atomised egoic selves.
To be in a covenantal relationship is to commit to stay the distance for the agreed purpose of the relationship and to hold the relationship itself as worthy of endurance.
It is a completely different context than a contractual relationship.
Both are necessary.
October 19th 2019
Photo taken October 19th, 2019
