Dear Ones:
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”
“Love will guide us.”
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
“There is more love somewhere”
“If music be the food of love, play on.”
“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you your age.”
“Love is blind, and lovers cannot see, the pretty follies that themselves commit.”
“Doubt that the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move his aides, Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love.”
“You love me. Real or not real?” I tell him, “Real.”
“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.”
“Love stinks!”
“If I had a flower for every time I thought of you…I could walk through my garden forever.”
“Love, love me do.”
“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.”
“Love me tender, love me sweet.”
“Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love.”
“What’s love got to do with it?”
So much has, is and will be said about love. The risk is always that we lose sight of what love is. Of course, love is more than one thing. And because it is rooted in those places in us that so often lie beyond words—and often beyond understanding—it is difficult to say with real precision what love is. But I’d like to try. Our ministry theme for February is love. I’m mindful of a poem from WH Auden, “So Tell Me the Truth About Love.” Well, that’s what I’d like us all to do this month. Let’s explore what we mean in those instances when we use the word. Let’s try to tell the truth about love.
With deep and abiding love (which I will try to name),
Rev. Josh
