Love Principles

Bishop Dwayne Royster, executive director of Faith in Action, the largest U.S. and global faith-based grassroots organizing network, provided the keynote for the Love Revolution launch.  Reminding participants that all people are created in God’s image, Bishop Royster challenged us to change the world so that “everybody gets to live their full, best lives.”  Asserting that Jesus was disruptive, Royster called us to be disruptive for the sake of the gospel.  He said that race and class are never separate, that this is used as a weapon for “white folks not doing well to blame others,” and that the church does this kind of scapegoating as well.  Christian nationalists are not Christians, he said, but they have become the predominant Christian voice in this country.  He called the church to organize a counter-voice that is faithful to the Lord found in scripture.

Royster outlined three “love principles,” and framed them with questions for participants to consider.

1. The first revolution is internal, dealing with our own biases. Are we willing to change?  Are we willing to die to self, beliefs, traditions, and understanding?  Are we prepared to be disrupted ourselves?  Are we willing to take risks?  What are we afraid of?  He concluded by pointing to 1 John 4:18: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear…”. And saying that “there is no punishment from God if one takes a risk in love and gets it wrong.”
2. Everything is done in the context of relationship. He challenged us to risk relationship with those with whom we are not presently in relationship, to see others as Jesus sees them, and to work at building new relationships.  If we are not in relationship to certain people, do we really love them?
3. True love invokes (and provokes) the imagination. It leads to creativity, breaking rules that serve only to prop up the status quo.  What is the world we want?  What is the world God wants for us?  How do we unite God’s imagination and our world?  And what are we going to do to change the world?

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