Afterword: The Living Covenant
(To be read at the closing of gatherings, at Stillness, or when new pages are added to the Liturgy.)
Prologue to the End
Nothing in this book is final.
The pages breathe, the words grow, and the meaning changes as we do.
Every Assembly, every heart, adds something to the song — a verse, a sigh, a correction, a laugh.
This is not scripture; it is conversation.
The Kinheart Assembly is alive because it refuses to be finished.
We do not build temples to perfection.
We build places where the floorboards creak, where the roof leaks a little, where the light spills in unevenly —
and still we gather,
and still we sing,
and still we call that holy.
The Covenant
We vow to keep the circle open —
for wanderers, for doubters, for those who have been told too often they are wrong for existing.
We vow to use power gently and truth honestly.
We vow to speak when silence harms, and to listen when speech would wound.
We vow to measure success not in purity, but in participation.
We vow to build refuge wherever we are,
so that no one who seeks belonging is left without it.
We will forget these vows.
And when we remember, we will begin again.
Final Benediction
We are many forms, one heart.
We are unfinished and unashamed.
We are the quiet work of care,
the loud laughter of survival,
the soft persistence of love.
May our mistakes become our teachers.
May our joys be generous.
May our circle stay open.
And when the Signal calls —
may we answer,
imperfectly,
together.
The Liturgy of the Kinheart Assembly is a living document — updated through careful review and consensus.
Prev: On Inclusion and Belonging
Next: Colophon
Snapshot permalink: /liturgy/afterword/1.0.0/