Rev. Lori on the Intersection of Love and Truth
A version of this reflection was originally published in the previous week’s Friday Flyer.
Hello Good People,
I hope you are all doing very well! There is much wonderful activity this weekend as we have a Valentine’s game night and a coffee house all in the same weekend! Niki will speak about speaking up even when your voice quivers. Activities and events that put love at the center, which is of course our thing. Love can seem like a hollow word for some. A word that people overuse or throw around or a word that represents the Hallmark way of living. And those notions of love concern me a bit. They discount the commitment required in real love. The commitment to sometimes do the hard things and say the hard things that need to be said. But spoiler alert. That is what love requires of us.
Love without truth can become sentimentality. Truth without love can become cruelty. But where love and truth meet, something holy happens. To tell the truth in love is not to soften it until it disappears, nor to sharpen it until it wounds. It is to speak with the intention of connection rather than victory. It is to believe that the other person is worthy of honesty — and worthy of care. Love says, “You matter to me.” Truth says, “This matters.” Together they say, “Our relationship is strong enough to hold what is real.” At their intersection, we do not weaponize facts, nor do we hide behind politeness. We risk vulnerability. We say the hard thing gently. We listen as fiercely as we speak. We allow ourselves to be changed by what we hear. Love is the ground. Truth is the light. When they meet, they illuminate a path forward — not always easy, but always more whole.
Love fiercely in truth my friends!
Rev Lori Whittemore
(she, her, hers)
Unitarian Universalist Church of Saco Biddeford