Love.... Just Love.

“Social media” has its faults. It can be and has been used to spread disinformation and engender anger. However, it can also be used to share positive stories and words of love, compassion, comfort and wisdom. I have found many such words and here are some of my favorites that I believe relate to this year’s theme.

"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms."

1 Peter 4:8-10

“Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.”

-----Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“I have decided to stick to love… Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

----Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

----Nelson Mandela

“Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”

----Interpretative Translation of Talmudic Texts

“If you know you are Beloved of God, you can live with an enormous amount of success and an enormous amount of failure without losing your identity, because your identity is that you are the beloved. “

-----Henri Nouwen

“My father early on taught me that the only purpose of life is to make a difference in the lives of others & to stand up for what is right & just & full of love & full of compassion.”

----Rev. William J. Barber III

“Jesus didn’t call it “social justice.” He simply called it Love. If those who profess to follow him would only love our neighbors beyond comfort, borders, race and religion, “social justice” would be a given. Love makes justice happen.”

------Bernice King

“Life is short. We do not have much time to gladden the hearts of those who travel the way with us. So be quick to love, make haste to be kind.”

--Henri Amiel

"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

1 John 1:5-7