Finding Love in Community
This month’s theme of Beloved Community invites us to think about the places where there is connection, justice, love, equity, and generosity of spirit. It invites us to think of ourselves as a part of a greater web. We are asked to notice relationships between all those who make up the community that is our First UU Church of Indiana, PA. Therefore, during this month when we traditionally celebrate romantic love (eros) and friendship (philia), I invite you to look more deeply.
“Agape,” a spiritual love
See where you find agape, the word the Greeks used for a deeper and more selfless love. This is the love which we sometimes might feel in moments of prayer or meditation. Perhaps we find this feeling in the natural world. You might feel it while noticing a sunset or a starry sky. Agape might include feeling suddenly small and connected to something greater. We might notice a feeling in our throat while looking at a piece of art. Or perhaps you feel the rising of agape while reading a poem which drenches you in beauty for a moment. Some describe it as a sense of boundless connection. Others, like theologians Blaise Pascal and Freidrich Schleiermacher, said that one of the most notable aspects of this kind of “religious feeling” was the indescribable nature of it.
Wherever you may find agape, whatever might be your path, I invite you to bring those feelings. Bring your wonder, connection, and love. Bring all your mystical moments to this congregation and use them as foundations of our shared values. Let this impel us to create a world with beauty, love, and compassion enough. A world that allows all people to find wonder and magic in their own lives. This is what we mean when we say that we are building a community in which all may thrive. It is the creation of a world where there is not only survival for all, but a life that is meaningful and includes sparks of joy.
Beloved Community is the place where it is safe enough to be imperfect. It is anywhere there is love enough to help when you are feeling grief or worry about the world. Beloved Community is the place that feels like a home or a family… Perhaps it exists in ways that some of us did not feel growing up, but saw in movies, or that we built through finding friends and creating our own loving communities. We are sharing in the creation of this Beloved Community every time we worship together, join in pastoral conversations, share vulnerably in a reflection group, or reach out in generosity through our Share the Plate. This month, I ask that you join me in that act of creation.
In deep and abiding love,
Rev. Elizabeth
