While the Beatles song is lovely and catchy and optimistic, it is not really
true.
People do need love—but also—food and water and shelter and healthcare
and justice and peace.
Love is expressed not only as an emotional state but as an action—as series of actions throughout our
lives.
We can give our thoughts and prayers for Asian communities living in fear of violence and attacks. We can be shocked and verwhelmed by the upsurge of antisemitism. We can weep for victims of gun violence. We can feel sympathy, anger, and pain with the family of Tyre Nichols and other Black people who are victims of police violence. But our love is most fully expressed when we also work for justice—when we work for changes that
protect and affirm life.
As part of the review of Article 2 of the Unitarian Universalist Association bylaws, this wording is being considered as central to the purpose of our faith: The purpose of the Unitarian Universalist Association is to actively engage its members in the transformation of the world through liberating love.
We can also ask:
• What does liberating love look like in this congregation?
• How might we define and determine transformation?
• How might we let more people know of UUCSR’s efforts and commitments to engage in liberating love?
For Black History Month, we remember these words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:
Only through an inner spiritual transformation do we gain the strength to fight vigorously the evils of the world in a humble and loving effort. From Strength to Love