In their Troublemakers’ Blessing, Lóre Stevens and Cody Hooks suggest: We are the mischievous seekers who demand to know “Why?” “How come?” and “What’s the point?” Perhaps that insistent sacred questioning is what led to Liberating Love being proposed as the central hub of our values. In the reimagining of how we express Unitarian Universalism that we’re considering this year, everything flows from and orbits Liberating Love.

What’s the point of affirming the inherent worthiness of every person? It prompts us toward a liberating love for ourselves and everyone around us. Why promote justice, equity, and compassion in our human relationships? That active love liberates people from systemic oppressions and other suffering. What’s the point of affirming democratic processes when they can be so messy and slow when done with integrity? Because creating space for every voice to be heard conveys a liberating love. Or at least it can.

The concept of Liberating Love isn’t explicitly stated in the current wording of our principles. And yet, our guiding principles can become surface level assertions, detached from spiritual depth, if we fail to recognize that they lead us somewhere. One possibility is that our principles lead us toward embracing and effecting a liberating kind of love for ourselves and the world around us.

For some of us, that invites a deeper exploration of what love really means. How might our previous experiences or assumptions about love be different from the kind of love we’re considering holding at the center of our collective values? What if moving toward a love that liberates is the reason for all that we value and do as Unitarian Universalists?

Our theme for the month of January is Liberating Love, and even so, we’ll only be scratching the surface. We begin with a special morning this Sunday (January 7) all about our stories. After a Forums conversation with a Drag Story Time performer, we’ll consider the stories we tell and how those stories connect us with (or disconnect us from!) our life-affirming values. Following the service, we’ll have a special Drag Story Time in the Fellowship Hall. We may even have some visiting families from the community who want to take part in this special offering.

Since we want everyone to feel as safe and welcome as possible, we’ll be taking some extra safety precautions this Sunday. Currently, we don’t have any indication of plans to disrupt the morning’s events. We’ll let you know if that changes, so you can be prepared to show up with an extra measure of love and compassion.

The following Sunday, January 14, the Archivists will recall with us how our community expressed a love that liberated a fairly influential personality from previously harmful religious ideologies. We’ll follow that up with an amazing meal together provided by Harry’s Kitchen Crew, and the Board will invite your feedback about some important decisions.

On January 21, we’ll lean into what liberation might mean for us personally. If we are the recipients of liberating love, what does that do for us? Some of us might believe that we have no use for such a thing. Others among us might feel a deep thirst for it that we don’t always feel we can admit. So, from what—and for what—do we need liberation?

Finally, we’ll explore the relationship between love and power on January 28. If we take seriously the call to be loving liberators, what does that mean? What would such a call even require of us?

I hope that this dive into the rich theme of Liberating Love sparks some curiosity, inspires meaningful action, and invites possibility. At the very least,

whether you think that you need a little liberating love

or you think you might be called to offer a little liberating love,

may we become more deeply aware that all of us are both,

all the time.