14 [Love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values. We are
15 accountable to one another for doing the work of living our shared values through the spiritual
16 discipline of Love.]
Love is the beating heart of our faith, welcoming all. It shows up in the ways we care for and about each other, in sorrow and in joy. It shows up in the ways we make our values real in the world, holding ourselves and each other accountable for living our values with compassion and respect. The love of our communities gives us a deep sense of belonging, of being recognized, valued, and cherished.
I love this amendment!! It emphasizes that the experience of being loved is an essential foundation for expressing love in the world. It also honors our Universalist roots. Universalism affirms that we are all held by the larger love of the cosmos. That emphasis was lost in both the 1961 and 1985 versions of Article II, and I’d love to see it come back.
I appreciate this poetic definition of love in action. In my opinion, the proposed revision was missing a definition of what it means to center love and those of you who worked on this definition did a great job! You have my vote.
I would definitely support this amendment. I was not happy with the A2SC’s centering of love (admittedly closely following the charge), but this amendment makes it work for me.
Love in action - resonates.
describing love as the beating heart of our faith, means (for me) we lean on faith as an expression of love. The first phrase does not feel as sincere as it has a western anthropomorphised love to it. love permeates all existence - hearts too.The rest of the description resonates -
To presenters or promoters of amendments that weren’t prioritized or presented: This forum is closing for comment tomorrow, but our lay-led public Facebook group, Blue Boat Passengers, will remain open for another few weeks for commenting (and still be viewable after that).
If you want to find people to coordinate with for the 15-congregation amendment process, you may use the group to do so while it remains open. There’s now a specific post for this in the group (“A post for those wishing to do the 15-congregation amendment process to coordinate”). Please read both the rules and the pinned post about the pending suspension of the group before posting or commenting there.