As we approach session two on Sunday, Feb 9, we begin to explore the core theological foundation of our Unitarian Universalist Faith, Love.
Graphic used by permission of creator: Tanya Webster (chalicedays.org)
Love as a Value:
Love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values.
UUA Article II, passed June 2024
In January of 2019, the Article II Study Commission, charged with finding a grounding shared value in Unitarian Universalism, presented their proposal that Love was indeed the powerful value that connects us to one another and to community. Read their presentation in this resource:
- “What Brings Us Together: Love as a Common Theological Core“, Article II Study Commission.
Our former UUA President expanded on Love as a center, with this essay published in the May 1, 2022 UU World.
- “Embracing the Ethic of Love.” Rev. Susan Frederick Gray. She ends with this quote:
“Let us build with love a solid foundation for the work we do in our families, our faith communities, and our world. May we always enlarge our circle of concern to create inclusive communities of resilience and wholeness, of resistance and courage. May we live the bold, brave, loving theology that lives at the heart of our tradition.”
Rev. Susan Frederick Gray, UU World, May 1, 2022.
And finally bell hooks, a social commentator, essayist, memoirist, and poet (née Gloria Jean Watkins) implores us to consider love as a verb rather than a feeling, and then use the power of love to shift the injustices within ourselves and our world. Read her works below.
- “What is Love? Love is a Verb” bell hooks (Online: From the Dewdrop, June 2019)
- “Love as the Practice of Freedom” bell hooks.
Please spend time considering these questions that come from the resources offered in this email. Write/speak/draw in your journal as you process them. Choose the ones that speak to you or challenge you the most.
- Were you surprised by anything in the theological statement that prefaced the changes to Article II?
- In what ways is love at the foundation of your faith, your life?
- What is your workable, useful definition of love? What does it mean to you?
- How do you practice love in your life, in your families, communities, your congregation?
- How are you accountable and responsible for the way you love in the circles of your life?