What Do We Love Sooooo Much?

This month’s theme of Practicing Resistance invites us to explore both our hearts and our hands.

The great African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass is quoted in our grey hymnal (#579) as saying, “Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are people who want … rain without thunder and lightning … This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never did and it never will. Find out what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice which will be imposed upon them. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

I agree that strong limitations must be placed on tyrants. As a people of faith, we are called to agitate for freedom, struggle against oppression, and demand justice. Contemporary artist Dalia Shevin reminds us to fight for what we love in her screen print, which states, “Your heart is a muscle the size of your fist. Keep loving. Keep fighting.”

As Unitarian Universalists who value justice, equity, and pluralism, we are being called to resist the oppressive forces in the name of a liberating Love, recalling that our interdependence connects us to one and all, large and small.

Practicing Resistance isn’t something to do alone – it’s a communal endeavor. That’s why we have each other at Peoples Church. It’s a place where we gather to recommit to all that  we hold dear – and remember what we value so much that it’s worth fighting for.  

As we center Love, may we – with integrity – live compassionate lives through spiritual growth and just action. In other words, may we keep loving and keep fighting.

I look forward to Practicing Resistance with you in 2026.

Growing in Faith,