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A Few Words From Pastor Bryan
...And Valerie Kaur
As an Enneagram type two, I know I am hardwired and predisposed to value love above just about everything. So there's that...
But it is also true that the Bible tells us that "God is Love" (1 John 4:8). Additionally, it tells us that when Jesus was asked to pretty much sum up the entire focus of Scripture, he said, "Love God with all your mind, heart, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 12:31). In other words, the Divine message to humankind really is all about Love. I would add Truth as another core pillar of biblical faith. Jesus said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." (John 8:32) Love and Truth. If we embrace and embody Love and Truth, we will always be on the right track. A Spirit-centered track. We will, even with our inevitable missteps and detours, always be on the way to solutions rather than deepening divisions and exacerbating problems. We will always be connected to the heart of God and empowered by the Spirit of God.
As we all know, love is a word that also often gets tossed around rather loosely. So much so that it can lose its meaning. That's why when I'm talking about the Love that is the very essence of our faith tradition, I'm referring to the kind of love Jesus taught and lived out so powerfully. It's the kind of love that is extended to everyone and everything--including one's most ruthless opponents, and including those who have hurt us the most. And also, always, to ourselves as well. Yes I know, this kind of Love is challenging and costly. In fact it is downright impossible to live this out unless it is the Spirit of God offering this Love in and through us.
This past week in our Morning Zoom Devotions I shared some quotes from an amazing book by a very powerful young human rights attorney and activist named Valerie Kaur. Valerie comes from the Sikh religious tradition. It is a beautiful religion, and thanks to our own Martha Olsen, we are in touch as a congregation with the Sikh Temple in Madison. We're hoping to develop an ongoing partnership with this Sikh community and designate a Sunday this summer during which a number of folks from our church will go to their temple on a Sunday to worship with them and enjoy a meal afterward.
But back to Love. Valerie Kaur's book focuses on what she refers to as "Revolutionary Love." Followers of the Jesus we embrace will recognize the teachings of Jesus present at the heart of Revolutionary Love, even though Valerie does not connect them directly to Jesus. She bases them on the Love that is at the heart of all major religious traditions.
I think this Divine Revolutionary Love is what this fractured but beautiful world of ours needs more than anything else at this point in history. I have grown accustomed to people saying things like, "Yeah, well, love is nice and all that. But love will never be taken seriously in the so-called real world. Don't be naive. You've got to be realistic."
I have reached a point in my journey at which I'm just not buying that anymore. Love IS realistic. Love IS pragmatic. In fact it is the only "force" or energy that is strong and deep enough to transform human hearts and to restore a commitment to the common good and the well-being of the earth. Hatred, greed, and ego are what do not "work." Revolutionary Love is the only thing that that gives me hope, and that I know has the power to bring the world more into alignment with God's Dream and Intention.
So let's Pledge to be about Revolutionary Love together. Nothing else has the "soul force" needed to heal and unite the world, and nothing else is worthy of our best gifts and deepest allegiance.
I've posted Valerie's "Declaration of Revolutionary Love" from her website below. I love it.
Hope to gather in this Spirit of Revolutionary Love with you all this Sunday, and every Sunday.
Truth and Love,
Pastor Bryan
Valerie Kaur's, "The Declaration of
Revolutionary Love"
We pledge to rise up in Revolutionary Love.
We declare our love for all who are in harm’s way — refugees, immigrants, Muslims, Sikhs, Jews, queer and trans people, Black people, Indigenous people, Asian Americans, Latinx people, the disabled, women and girls, working-class people and poor people. We vow to see one another as brothers, sisters, and siblings. Our humanity binds us together, and we vow to fight for a world where all of us can flourish.
We declare love even for our opponents. We oppose all policies that threaten the rights and dignity of any person. We vow to fight not with violence or vitriol, but by challenging the cultures and institutions that promote hate. In this way, we will challenge our opponents through the ethic of love.
We declare love for ourselves. We will protect our capacity for joy. We will rise and dance. We will honor our ancestors whose bodies, breath, and blood call us to a life of courage. In their name, we choose to see this darkness not as the darkness of the tomb – but of the womb. We will breathe and push through the pain of this era to birth a new future.
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