January 15, 2023

2 B Loved (Are We Ready)

Rev. Emilie is back! Are we ready to be loved? Really? How can we find our center if we are not ready to be loved? Lessons from the Gospel Writer Lizzo on this weekend celebrating Dr. King's life and legacy, the one who taught us the meaning of agape. 

Worship leaders in order of appearance:

  • John O’Neill (Pianist)

  • Wim Sweldens (Worship Associate)

  • Misa Iwama (Director of Music Ministry)

  • Dr. Tuli Patel (Lead Ministry Team)

  • emilie boggis  (Lead Ministry Team)

  • Jeanne Seigle/Cathy Menendez, Chaplains

  • Barbara Heisler, Community Groups

Music:

  • #34 Though I May Speak with Bravest Fire (From Singing the Living Tradition)

  • We Shall Overcome (African American spiritual)

  • #199 Precious Lord, Take My Hand

  • Only Love Can Do That (Words by Martin Luther King, Jr., music by Mark Miller)

  • #100 I’ve Got Peace Like a River (African American Spiritual)

Covenant

Love guides this congregation. Love calls us daily to acts of liberation grounded in antiracism. We affirm that we live in the complexity of intersectionality and that building healthy and loving relationships is a spiritual practice, requiring both inward and outward focus. Thus, we covenant to listen deeply, speak compassionately, express gratitude, and embrace our unique diversity. We endeavor to communicate honestly and with compassion, particularly when we are in conflict. When we hurt one another, we will try to make amends, forgive and reconnect with an intent to repair, change and grow. Our purpose is to be radically inclusive, feed the human spirit and heal the world. In celebration of the common purpose that unites us and with the aspiration of Beloved Community before us, we will do our best to abide by this covenant.

Chalice Lighting

"The light of love is always in us, 

no matter how cold the flame. 

It is always present, 

waiting for the spark to ignite, [light the chalice]

waiting for the heart to awaken 

and call us back to the first memory of being, 

the life force inside a dark place waiting to be born."

~ bell hooks

Reading

A first reading comes from Dr. King on the concept of love or agape. Please note that Dr. King speaks in what we consider today to be gender exclusive language. The substance of Dr. King’s life, theology and work are inclusive. If he were writing today, his language would more accurately reflect this inclusivity.

“At the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love. In speaking of love, we are not referring to some sentimental or affectionate emotion. It would be nonsense to urge men to love their oppressors in an affectionate sense. We speak of a love which is expressed in the Greek word agape. Agape means understanding, redeeming good will for all men. It is an overflowing love which is purely spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless, and creative. It is not set in motion by any quality or function of its object. It is the love of God operating in the human heart. Agape does not begin by discriminating between worthy and unworthy people, or any qualities people possess. It begins by loving others for their sakes. It springs from the need of the other person - his need for belonging to the best in the human family. Agape is not a weak, passive love. It is love in action. Agape is a willingness to go to any length to restore community. In the final analysis, agape means a recognition of the fact that all life is interrelated. Whether we call it an unconscious process, an impersonal Brahman, or a Personal Being of matchless power and infinite love, there is a creative force in this universe that works to bring the disconnected aspects of reality into a harmonious whole.”

Our second reading comes from bell hooks in her book All About Love: 

“Self-love is the foundation of our loving practice. Without it our other efforts to love fail. Giving ourselves love we provide our inner being with the opportunity to have the unconditional love we may have always longed to receive from someone else. Whenever we interact with others, the love we give and receive is always necessarily conditional. Although it is not impossible, it is very difficult and rare for us to be able to extend unconditional love to others, largely because we cannot exercise control over the behavior of someone else and we cannot predict or utterly control our responses to their actions. We can, however, exercise control over our own actions. We can give ourselves the unconditional love that is the grounding for sustained acceptance and affirmation. When we give this precious gift to ourselves, we are able to reach out to others from a place of fulfillment and not from a place of lack. 

“One of the best guides to how to be sel-floving is to give ourselves the love we are often dreaming about receiving from others. There was a time when I felt lousy about my over-forty body, saw myself as too fat, too this, or too that. Yet I fantasized about finding a lover who would give me the gift of being loved as I am. It is silly, isn't it, that I would dream of someone else offering to me the acceptance and affirmation I was withholding from myself. This was a moment when the maxim "You can never love anybody if you are unable to love yourself" made clear sense. And I add, "Do not expect to receive the love from someone else you do not give yourself."


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