If you were in church this past Sunday for our annual Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration, you had a chance to see posted around the sanctuary examples of actual protest signs from both the Civil Rights Era (“I AM a Man,” “I Have a Dream,” “Black and White Together”) and from today’s Occupy Movement (“I am a Human Being NOT a Commodity,” “A Better World IS Possible,” “Together We’re Too Big to Fail”). As you could see, the sentiments from the two movements are, in many ways, remarkably similar.
Among those signs, you may also have noticed two yellow signs which said, simply, “Standing on the Side of Love.” These come from the Standing on the Side of Love public advocacy campaign which “seeks to harness love’s power to stop oppression.” Sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Standing on the Side of Love campaign kicked off in July of 2010 and was originally inspired by the 2008 shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, which was targeted largely because of its open and welcoming stance on LGBT issues.
More fully stated, the goal of the campaign is to “harness love’s power to challenge exclusion, oppression and violence based on sexual orientation, gender identity, immigration status, race, religion, or any other identity.” Signs like the ones in our sanctuary have made appearances all across the country at protests for same sex marriage and against unfair immigration policies, as well as at various Occupy encampments, and at protests against the proposed Canadian Tar Sands pipeline. In cities and towns across the United States, Unitarian Universalists and our allies are standing on the side of love and standing up to injustice.
On Sunday, the SSL campaign kicked off what it is calling “National Standing on the Side of Love Month,” also known as “Thirty Days of Love.” Beginning on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and continuing until Valentine’s Day, this is a month that organizers hope we will spend reflecting on the power of love in community and celebrating heroes who have loved courageously. It is a good time to remember the words of Professor Cornel West who has said, “Justice is what Love looks like in public.”
If you’d like to take part in the Thirty Days of Love, you can go to the campaign website (http://www.
standingonthesideoflove.org/national-standing-on-the-side-of-love-month-the-story-of-us-the-story-of-now/). There, along with more information, you will find toward the bottom of the page, a calendar with a suggested action or topic for reflection for each of the 30 days. These would be appropriate to do alone, as a personal spiritual practice, or together with other members of your family. Many of the reflection questions would make for good dinner conversation with younger children.
Right now in our country it feels like fear, mistrust, and hatred are on the rise. Let’s stand together on the side of love!
In faith,
Rev. Wendy L. Bell