A COVENANT WITH AMERICA
My Homeland, Serene Land of my fathers,
Beautiful princess dressed by the seas of the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean,
In you I have found songs, caresses and consolation.
On your bosom you received me and imprinted my heart with your tenderness.
I pledge to be faithful even when I am apart from you.
I pledge to love the principles of freedom and justice that make you
almost human and generous.
Oh beautiful land of heroic carmine,
Rise to glory the selfless blood of your heroes, the festive green of your gardens,
and the white of the snow of your volcanoes.
Let them be your witnesses of the pact that we seal today.
Let us not forget the humility and kindness of your spirit.
And to those that have forgotten their pact with you,
unworthy of your benevolence and hospitality will they be.
But those who remain faithful, embrace them, let them feel you within,
and as from our earliest days when we learned to venerate your love…live!
A Covenant With the U.S. Constitution
Students of the Old Testament study the 'Suzerainty Treaty', which was used throughout the ancient Near East as a contract of mutual protection between nations. The genius of the Biblical authors transformed this political template into a covenant with the Spirit. I ask my students to write their own 'covenant with power', to explore their relationship with a significant authority in their lives. They use the six elements of the ancient form, filling them with the content of their own experience: (1) naming the power, (2) history of the relationship, (3) laws, (4) blessings and curses that result from keeping or breaking the covenant, (5) covenant renewal ceremony, (6) calling of witnesses.
Douglas Galick chose to write a covenant with the Constitution of the United States. His writing reveals the heart of a soldier, which we all need to understand, whether we share it or not.
A Covenant With My Ultimate Authority: The Constitution of the United States of America.
Without falter, I have volunteered years of unconditional service to your defense. You provide the foundation and structure in which our great country is formed. The guidance of our military might is also derived from your words. I have been ordered to post in vast regions throughout the world to establish this great influence.
I have sworn to defend you against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. In your words, I must also obey the orders of the President of the United States and the officers appointed over me. As many have done before me, I must be willing to sacrifice my life in your defense.
Your words provide me and every other American with the blessings of freedom that we cherish so deeply. You are the oldest of governing documents and your words were forged by wise men who could see centuries ahead of their time. By honoring these words we will continue to thrive as a nation and as free individuals. But if I cannot fulfill my obligations to you, I will receive the harshest of military punishments. This will also identify a weakness in our national security. Frequent incidents of this nature could provide our enemies with an opportunity to attack our freedoms and our way of life.
I will renew this oath promptly upon the expiration of the previous one. I will always be under your word. A superior officer of my choosing will recite your words with me and I will raise my right hand, pledging my loyalty. The stars and stripes of our nation’s flag will be positioned in the background. This will give honor to our country and remind those who are present what we fight for.
A congregation of my peers, subordinates, and superiors will be present to witness this renewed covenant. Soldiers with whom I have shared the stinging cold and gut-wrenching fear of battle will stand along my flank. For they have sworn the same oath. All who are present understand that what they witness is an oath of reenlistment and a promise to fellow comrades.
The Covenant Form To Renew A Marriage Vow
My Loving Wife, you have provided me three beautiful daughters and a happy, clean, and comfortable home for 27 years.
You have sacrificed yourself for this family. You have never asked for anything for yourself, other than the bare necessities, instead you have worked to provide the things for our daughters and myself that we selfishly asked you for.
Your honesty and integrity have allowed me to do my job, without ever having to worry about your faithfulness. With me often leaving for a year or more at a time, there was no greater gift that you could have given me, other than the love you have given me.
I have worked hard to provide for you and the girls and tried to ensure that you had all of the necessary resources to manage our home. I have to say for you to manage our home, because I have had to spend so many years away from you. I am blessed that you are a wife that understands the Army way of life.
I have given you my total and complete trust, never holding anything back from you good or bad. I never even know what is in our bank account. Simply put, I have trusted you with everything.
I promise you in this covenant, that I will continue to support you financially. Never will you be without the money necessary to maintain a good standard of living for yourself and our children as long as I am capable of working.
I will provide you a home that will keep you safe and comfortable, a home that will provide a good place for us to raise our children. This home will be one that you will proud of and never ashamed to invite your family or friends to.
Last, but certainly not the least, I promise to give you my love and affection. Never will I share that love or affection, with anyone other than our family. I can not promise you all of my love. I must love my children and family. But, I can promise you that other than the Lord, I will love nothing more than you.
Any failure of mine to keep these promises I have listed, other than through physical incapacity or an act of God, you will be free of your bonds to me. I will give up all claims to everything that we have acquired or built together throughout the years. You will be free to divorce me and choose another to fulfill your dreams.
We will keep this covenant in the family bible and read it yearly on our anniversary. This reading will be done in the presence of our children during our anniversary dinner. If one of us is not capable of being there for that dinner, the other will take this covenant from the bible and read it with the children.
I ask the Lord, God, and our children to be the witnesses to this covenant. There can never be any question of this agreement, for they will all bare witness against me.
My Loving Wife, I love you with all of my heart and soul. Never will I put another before you. I will always cherish you and you will never have any reason to doubt my love for you.
You have sacrificed yourself for this family. You have never asked for anything for yourself, other than the bare necessities, instead you have worked to provide the things for our daughters and myself that we selfishly asked you for.
Your honesty and integrity have allowed me to do my job, without ever having to worry about your faithfulness. With me often leaving for a year or more at a time, there was no greater gift that you could have given me, other than the love you have given me.
I have worked hard to provide for you and the girls and tried to ensure that you had all of the necessary resources to manage our home. I have to say for you to manage our home, because I have had to spend so many years away from you. I am blessed that you are a wife that understands the Army way of life.
I have given you my total and complete trust, never holding anything back from you good or bad. I never even know what is in our bank account. Simply put, I have trusted you with everything.
I promise you in this covenant, that I will continue to support you financially. Never will you be without the money necessary to maintain a good standard of living for yourself and our children as long as I am capable of working.
I will provide you a home that will keep you safe and comfortable, a home that will provide a good place for us to raise our children. This home will be one that you will proud of and never ashamed to invite your family or friends to.
Last, but certainly not the least, I promise to give you my love and affection. Never will I share that love or affection, with anyone other than our family. I can not promise you all of my love. I must love my children and family. But, I can promise you that other than the Lord, I will love nothing more than you.
Any failure of mine to keep these promises I have listed, other than through physical incapacity or an act of God, you will be free of your bonds to me. I will give up all claims to everything that we have acquired or built together throughout the years. You will be free to divorce me and choose another to fulfill your dreams.
We will keep this covenant in the family bible and read it yearly on our anniversary. This reading will be done in the presence of our children during our anniversary dinner. If one of us is not capable of being there for that dinner, the other will take this covenant from the bible and read it with the children.
I ask the Lord, God, and our children to be the witnesses to this covenant. There can never be any question of this agreement, for they will all bare witness against me.
My Loving Wife, I love you with all of my heart and soul. Never will I put another before you. I will always cherish you and you will never have any reason to doubt my love for you.
Covenant With a Comrade in Arms
This is the covenant between you, my Brother in arms and I. You are my watcher when I turn my back to the enemy. You are the hand to lift me when I’m wounded physically and emotionally. Wes Rhodes, my brother, this will be our covenant to each other now and until we can no longer meet one another on this world.
In the past we have trained countless hours for this mission here. We have shared long days and sleepless nights in the cold, in the heat, in the dirt and in the mud. We were together when we left the safety of our land and freedom. We are together now in a land where we share fear and are disliked by the people we vow to protect. You provided me time with your ears to hear my woes when I lost my love and I’ve provided the same to you as you plan your wedding six thousand miles away from home. When we’ve lost brothers in this place, we have leaned on one another for support.
Because of the bond we have here and now, I vow the following to you in hopes you do the same for me. These vows will empower our friendship. I vow to always watch your back as you do mine. I’ll be your eyes in your blind spot. I vow to cover you and help you through any discrepancy you have. If you fall below the rules, I will support you and protect you to the best of my abilities. I vow to be your strong side when you are weak and your voice of praise when you are strong. Your tears of joy and pain are welcomed anytime. I promise to listen and not talk when you just need to vent and to offer thought when you seek an answer. I vow to always be your brother.
I know that if these vows are kept, we both will be able to go home to our regular routines and loved ones. We will both have a strong shoulder to lean on for support with emotional woes and with emotional praise. With these vows, our friendship will last us a lifetime. By not keeping these vows, we both could stumble and not survive our tribulations. We both could suffer emotionally without and open ear. Enemies could find our weak spots without having a second set of eyes to cover each other. We could loose the best friendship we have ever found.
As a way to keep this covenant pure and on going, a copy of this covenant will be kept by both of us and placed in our journals that we have kept here. On or about December first of each year to come, we will meet in a place decided upon prior to the meeting. We must present each other with a copy of the covenant to remind each other of it and to renew it. At this meeting we will bring our wives or girlfriends and children if we have them, so that our families can share in our bond and continue it. The covenant will be read aloud by us together.
I bind myself to this covenant and call upon you and I, to be witnesses. Our fellow brothers will also be witnesses here and now. With this covenant witnessed, other covenants may be made among our additional brothers. In the future, our families and loved ones will be witnesses for our renewal with the hope that our separate families become one family as we have here.
In the past we have trained countless hours for this mission here. We have shared long days and sleepless nights in the cold, in the heat, in the dirt and in the mud. We were together when we left the safety of our land and freedom. We are together now in a land where we share fear and are disliked by the people we vow to protect. You provided me time with your ears to hear my woes when I lost my love and I’ve provided the same to you as you plan your wedding six thousand miles away from home. When we’ve lost brothers in this place, we have leaned on one another for support.
Because of the bond we have here and now, I vow the following to you in hopes you do the same for me. These vows will empower our friendship. I vow to always watch your back as you do mine. I’ll be your eyes in your blind spot. I vow to cover you and help you through any discrepancy you have. If you fall below the rules, I will support you and protect you to the best of my abilities. I vow to be your strong side when you are weak and your voice of praise when you are strong. Your tears of joy and pain are welcomed anytime. I promise to listen and not talk when you just need to vent and to offer thought when you seek an answer. I vow to always be your brother.
I know that if these vows are kept, we both will be able to go home to our regular routines and loved ones. We will both have a strong shoulder to lean on for support with emotional woes and with emotional praise. With these vows, our friendship will last us a lifetime. By not keeping these vows, we both could stumble and not survive our tribulations. We both could suffer emotionally without and open ear. Enemies could find our weak spots without having a second set of eyes to cover each other. We could loose the best friendship we have ever found.
As a way to keep this covenant pure and on going, a copy of this covenant will be kept by both of us and placed in our journals that we have kept here. On or about December first of each year to come, we will meet in a place decided upon prior to the meeting. We must present each other with a copy of the covenant to remind each other of it and to renew it. At this meeting we will bring our wives or girlfriends and children if we have them, so that our families can share in our bond and continue it. The covenant will be read aloud by us together.
I bind myself to this covenant and call upon you and I, to be witnesses. Our fellow brothers will also be witnesses here and now. With this covenant witnessed, other covenants may be made among our additional brothers. In the future, our families and loved ones will be witnesses for our renewal with the hope that our separate families become one family as we have here.
