By: Rev. Luke Stevens-Royer, First Unitarian Universalist Church in Rochester

Love looks like people realizing
how fragile, and how beautiful life and community and handshakes and hugs are –
and we remember a core part of our identity –
that it takes all of us doing our part, for us to survive and thrive together.

Take a deep breath – and remember how precious that is.

Throughout history, artists of all kinds have taken the cue of crises to craft beauty – so the poets have been hard at work these last several weeks.

Here’s some words from one, Rev. Lynn Ungar –

Imagine –
that we all so loved our threatened earth
that we stopped going on cruises, limited international flights, worked on cherishing the places where we already are.

Imagine that everyone who possibly can stops commuting. Spends extra time with their kids or pets or garden.

Imagine we have the revelation that everyone needs health care, sick leave, steady work.
It occurs to us that health care workers
are heroes. Also teachers.

Not to mention the artists of all kinds who teach us resilience and joy.

Imagine,
that we turned to our neighbors
in mutual aid, trading eggs for milk,
checking in on those who are elderly
or alone. Imagine that each of us
felt suddenly called to wonder in this moment, what does the world need form me?
What are my gifts?

With the poet, I too, have been wondering –
what are we realizing about ourselves and each other right now? What are we remembering, about our shared humanity, our shared beauty, our shared fragility?

And, dear colleagues,
all of us spiritual and moral leaders being asked to show up in new ways – considering what gifts we have to offer –
perhaps the question right now
is an ancient question that’s been asked for centuries –
how does love show up right in the middle of hardship and struggle?

Right now, to me,
love looks like empty stadiums and sanctuaries and shopping malls
as we realize that people are more important than profit –
love looks like windows covered in hearts, and bears,
bringing a new necessary beauty to our neighborhoods –
love looks like cheers across empty streets
for healthcare workers as they change shifts –
love looks like naming, as essential,
many workers who are often forgotten and underpaid –
grocery clerks, preschool teachers, nurses,
and, as Dr. King called us to realize in 1968 –
that in the final measure, physicians and sanitation workers are equally important.

Love looks like people realizing
how fragile, and how beautiful life and community and handshakes and hugs are – and we remember a core part of our identity –
that it takes all of us doing our part, for us to survive and thrive together.
We have remembered our deep interconnection –
in heartbreaking and heart-healing ways,
with each other, with our planet – as the earth itself has taken a breath, too – where air is clean, and birdsong is heard, and waters run clear.

When we can sing to each other across empty squares, we remember what matters most in life –

We are resilient.
Beauty and love keep showing up in the midst of struggle like they always have.

And, let us pray that even after this danger has passed, and we’ve learned whatever lessons we need to learn,

that we keep caring for each other,
with good wages, with healthcare and paid leave, with relief – that we keep turning to each other, in mutual aid,
with eggs and milk, art and song –

and know that if our earth, and our humanity is to be well, it takes us all taking no more, and no less, than we need.

My children are 6 and 3 –
in years to come, when they ask about this time –
that their pastor dad started preaching from the guest room on a video, and their teacher mom tried her best to attend to her students online,

I hope we can say to them–
we learned a lot about ourselves –
about beauty, and resilience, and how deeply woven together our lives are – that most things can’t be replicated in the same way,
but that we can survive hard times,
and on the other side,
we cared for each other better,
we held each other more,
we sang to each other,

so that the world, and our souls,
could breathe a little more easy, a little more free, a little more loved – and even though it was hard,
while we stayed home,
what showed up was the best of our humanity we could muster –
and multitudes of love.

Amen.