Symbols of Covenant: Visible Signs of an Invisible Promise 

by Commissioner Susan Bukiewicz 

From the beginning, God has spoken through signs — simple, beautiful markers that help His people hold on to His promises. Before Israel became a nation, before a church ever gathered, before a Salvation Army ever marched, God wove symbols into the life of His people so they would not forget who He is or who they were called to be.

When storms cleared over the ancient world, sunlight broke through the clouds, and a rainbow appeared. The brilliant arc of color stretched across the sky was more than beauty. It was a declaration from God: I remember. I am faithful.

Later, in Egypt, as families gathered around hurried meals before their deliverance, God gave Israel the Passover: a taste, a rhythm, a story to be repeated through generations.

These symbols grounded God’s people in His saving work and reminded them that covenant is not abstract. It is lived. It shapes choices, posture, and purpose.

But symbols were never meant to be admired from a distance. They were meant to reshape hearts.

Christ and the new covenant

Jesus took the language of covenant and brought it into the deepest possible focus. In an upper room, surrounded by ordinary people with an extraordinary calling, He lifted bread and a cup and declared a covenant written not on tablets or traditions but on transformed lives.

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood,” He said. Those words (Luke 22:20)   echo through centuries into our own hearts. Through His sacrifice, the Cross became more than an emblem hanging on walls or worn around necks. It became the ultimate sign of love that conquers death, restores the broken, and claims us as His own.

For early believers — and for us — covenant meant surrendering not only what we do, but who we are. Paul captured this mystery in a single sentence: “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). To live the covenant is to live in Him, day by day, in quiet obedience and bold devotion.

A Salvation Army expression

From its earliest days, The Salvation Army has embraced symbols that speak not of status, but of calling. William Booth understood that faith must be visible, not as display, but as witness. If God’s covenant is lived, then our outward expressions must reflect the inward reality.

Our flag tells this story with color and fire. Red sings of Christ’s redeeming blood. Yellow burns with the Spirit’s purifying flame. Blue calls us toward the steady holiness of the Father. And at the center stands the star — “Blood and Fire” — the heartbeat of our mission and the identity of our people.

And then there is the uniform. Worn by saints who have preached on street corners, fed strangers, prayed in barracks halls, and held vigil at hospital beds, it remains a visible declaration: I belong to Christ. My life is at His service. It is a garment stitched with conviction and washed in self-forgetting love.

The uniform remains an invitation, not to conformity, but to courage. Not to tradition for tradition’s sake, but to a shared mission far bigger than oneself.

Covenant lived today

We need symbols because we were created to remember, and also because we often forget. In a world of relentless noise and distraction, our signs of covenant call us back to what matters most. They tug us toward holy living when the easier path beckons. They remind us that Kingdom work thrives not in comfort but in compassion.

Yet symbols alone are empty unless they are embodied. A flag without faith is decoration. A uniform without love is costume. Covenant becomes visible only through lives marked by mercy, justice, humility, and the courage to follow Christ wherever He leads.

This covenant has been carried by generations of Salvationists — women and men who prayed, suffered, served, and persevered because Christ had claimed their hearts. And now, it is carried into the future by new believers hungry for meaning, longing for a mission worth giving everything to.

Every day, God invites us once again into covenant — into a promise that transforms us so we can transform the world.

A Covenant Prayer

Not carved in stone,
but etched in hearts awake to You.
Not sealed by ritual,
but by grace that holds and sends.

You call us to lives that speak louder than symbols,
to hands that heal,
to words that lift,
to footsteps willing to go where light is scarce.

When we wear the colors,
let them shape our character.
When we bear Your name,
let our lives reflect Your love.

Blood that redeems.
Fire that purifies.
Hope that rises again and again.

This is the covenant You offer —
renewed each morning.
And this is our answer:

Here I am, Lord.
All Yours. Now and always.