What's Love Got To Do With It?

All day long, I’ve been waffling back & forth about something so simple yet seemingly monumental.  (It all depends on your perspective, really.) As the Supreme Court sifts through both sides' arguments regarding marriage equality, I’ve seen this symbol popping up on people’s Facebook profiles:

It is a way of showing solidarity for those seeking equality.  But instead of simply changing mine without comment, I felt it more important to write and explain, because I know there are some in my circles who simply won’t understand and who may, in fact, decide that our difference in opinion is enough to cause a rift or even sever our relationship.  That risk is a scary one on some fronts but others: not so much.  (You can decide which camp you fall into in my book and I’ll leave it at that.)

One of the biggest struggles in this year of focusing on my “fit” has been finding a church home.  I didn’t grow up in the church and therefore many of the traditions & vestiges therein don’t resonate with me.  But I don’t struggle with what I believe because that is just what it is – MY belief.  My faith is important to me and what is equal in importance and tandem to that is my love for and service to others.  I’m not interested in being part of a church that gets a story in the local paper because of the elaborate cakes it had out on Easter;  I am interested in being a part of a community that LOVES and DOES because what I am held to is the great commandment in Mark 12:28-31:

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating.  Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"  

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this:  'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this:  'Love your neighbor as yourself.'  There is no commandment greater than these."

It’s right there, in the red letters:  "Love your neighbor as yourself."

And there are people in my life for whom this is a very important issue.  And because I love them, I want that which will make them happy, that which will make their lives easier and that which will make them a part, instead of apart.