HAVE A VOICE — It’s February, the short month that includes celebrations as diverse as Imbolc / Candlemas, Mardi Gras, Valentine’s Day, Presidents’ Day, and Black History Month. What do all of these things have in common? They involve someone or something standing on the side of love. As part of our own celebration we’d like to fill our blog with contributions from everyone in the congregation. The topic: What Does “Standing on the Side of Love” Mean to You? Please email a maximum of 500 words in .doc, .docx, or .txt (Word document or plain text) format, preferably as an attachment, to Melissa Bartell at Outreach@OakCliffUU.org. We’ll do the formatting, and minor editing (punctuation, spelling, obvious typos). DEADLINE: 11:59PM Thursday, February 11. (Update: extended deadline is Thursday, February 25th Let’s FILL THIS BLOG with LOVE!)
The words “standing” and “love” both have numerous meanings so the possible interpretations of this phrase span a broad continuum. In fact, the phrase can even be taken as confrontational, drawing a line in the sand and challenging others about which side of the line they are on. So let me start out by defining what the phrase means to me.
The term “standing” in this context is not a static term such as standing water. It does not refer to being in an upright position or occupying a particular position or maintaining a specific point of view. For me, “standing” is an action, a verb that says to actuate, to be in effect.
According to Merriam-Webster, primary meanings of the word “love” are a strong affection for another being or benevolent concern for the good of another. Applied to the phrase, “standing on the side of love,” my understanding of “love” is closer to the ancient Greek term “agape”. Charles Peirce, a semeiotic linguist and philosopher, uses agape to mean the creative love operative in the cosmos. It is pure love, unconditional love, sometimes translated as “love of the soul.”
So when I say “I’m standing on the side of love” I mean, “I’m acting in unconditional, pure love.” Unconditional love is love without limits or restrictions. I may disagree with a point of view, a behavior or a decision, but I can continue to love.
There are those moments when I know my actions are important, so it’s easier to find my center and remember to act in love. For example, when my daughter first introduced me to my future son-in-law (who happens to be a different race from the rest of my family) it was easy to recognize, “hey, this matters” and act in love. Since we have been having this conversation at UUCOC, I sometimes remember to act in love if I am goaded by someone who ascribes to hate-mongers’ messages. When a neighbor mimicked AM talk radio saying, “Don’t send a donation to Haiti because they are cursed Voodoo worshippers,” I was able to say, “Haitians are human beings like you and me” and love the neighbor as a human being.
It becomes more challenging to act in love if I am hurt, tired, sick – probably because I’m off-balance. It is very difficult when I feel personally threatened. I struggled with whether to wear my “Standing on the Side of Love” pin to work – a conservative company and industry – because my livelihood, which helps support others, may be jeopardized. If I stay in the present, it is easier to make a good decision. So now instead of projecting what may happen, I just wear the pin
The small difficult steps of standing on the side of love are what lead to hope. One decision at a time, one person at a time, one congregation at a time, agape, unconditional love, gives us hope for peace, for acceptance.
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