Love is the Way Quotes

“God may be the source of love, but people are often the vessels.”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“To love, my brothers and sisters, does not mean we have to agree. But maybe agreeing to love is the greatest agreement. And the only one that ultimately matters, because it makes a future possible.”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“Love is God’s way, the moral way, but it’s also the only thing that works. It’s the rare moment where idealism actually overlaps with pragmatism.”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“The church is the only society that exists primarily for those who are not its members. We were part of something much greater than ourselves, and we wouldn’t and couldn’t leave anyone behind. The problems here were our problems, and we would not look away. The slaves sang it this way: “I shall not be moved. Just like a tree, planted by the water, I shall not be moved.”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“We couldn’t see heaven, we couldn’t see resurrection, but we could feel its possibility. God had been factored into the equation of our experience and something in reality changed. That’s where and when hope happens—when reality is altered by a new possibility. It’s what the Bible calls hoping against hope. And that hope begins the journey of faith, and interestingly enough, all genuine efforts to change for the good. That’s what making do can do for you.”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”
― Bishop Michael Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“Those days when she said, “You were preachin’,” I thought a lot about what she meant. She wasn’t telling me that she was impressed with the information I had assembled or that I had entertained her. What she meant was that something in that sermon had touched something at her core. That’s what truly authentic preaching can do: make the word become flesh and dwell in somebody’s life. I try to cut through the rationale to someone’s heart, so that you can then walk into the intellectual part of the argument with an open mind. It’s not so much about emoting what Michael feels as it is about connecting my energy, and the room’s energy, to love’s source.”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“it was for me an experience of that same love, the loving and utter reality of the living God. It was an awakening—and I do believe it has led me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. Opening the door to love’s call just does that. You find the true you, the you that brings you closer to love.”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“When I got back to the dorm, I remember lying in bed, my thoughts on a loop of anxiety and remorse. I had no idea how close my friend had come to serious illness or even death. Now, I don’t think of myself as a mystical person by nature. Some of us are, but I’m not. But lying there, my grandmother’s face came into my mental horizon. I thought about all she had gone through in life and how she kept making do, by keeping God and her faith close, “holding on to God’s unchanging hand,” as the old folk used to say. Then I got down on my knees and prayed. By the next morning, my friend was clearly going to be OK, but something had changed for me.”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“Meditate daily on the teachings and life of Jesus. There is a reason this comes first. Dr. King realized that to walk the way of love, we need to nurture a relationship with the source of love. You can do this according to your chosen tradition or spiritual beliefs, but this first commitment is about connecting with that higher power. It might take the form of a brief reflective walk in fresh air, evening prayer, or a fifty-minute Bible study, but commit to holding space for it, daily. 2. Remember always that the nonviolent movement seeks justice and reconciliation—not victory. Reconciliation, not revenge, is the goal. Again, you don’t rise from the madness by adding more madness. Reconciliation and revenge are big concepts, but the truth is that each day brings opportunities to unite or divide; to provoke anger or model compassion. 3. Walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is love. This is a call to be the change you would like to see. Make the dream real by enacting it. (See number 2, above.)”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“That’s why prayer matters—not as magic, like rubbing a rabbit’s foot. Prayer matters because when God is brought into the equation of life, something changes. Another possibility emerges.”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“Love is all around us. It is in nature—in the ocean, the trees, the sky, the mountains, all of it. But connecting to God’s presence in nature isn’t passive, either. It requires active presence.”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“The way of love will show us the right thing to do, every single time. It is moral and spiritual grounding—and a place of rest—amid the chaos that is often part of life. It’s how we stay decent in indecent times. Loving is not always easy, but like with muscles, we get stronger both with repetition and as the burden gets heavier. And it works.”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“Grandma just watched. We didn’t know it yet, but we were busted. Come Sunday supper, she sat us down and told us how things were going to be going forward. “You don’t laugh at anybody else’s religion. You respect the Lord however he comes.”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“your presence can be a powerful corrective. Barbara Harris said it so well: “One way to help combat [systemic racism] is to stand firm and be who you are and to force people, therefore, to deal with you as you really are, and not try to become acceptable to people by being something or someone you are not, in the hope of changing their perception about you. I think you stand up to systemic racism by being true to who you are and what you believe, and what you stand for.”2 Anyone who commits to being a living witness to the way of love—White, Black, or Brown—will have a moment when these words will apply.”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“When you commit to being yourself in any environment, even your presence can be a powerful corrective. Barbara Harris said it so well: “One way to help combat [systemic racism] is to stand firm and be who you are and to force people, therefore, to deal with you as you really are, and not try to become acceptable to people by being something or someone you are not, in the hope of changing their perception about you. I think you stand up to systemic racism by being true to who you are and what you believe, and what you stand for.”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“Durstan Reginald McDonald, whom everybody called Dusty. Dusty became one of my most important mentors. Aside from being chaplain, he taught philosophy and had a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Probably in his late forties at the time, Dusty was a married father with a crew cut—in other words, a grown-up. Contrary to the iconic proclamation of the ’60s to “never trust anyone over thirty,” Dusty was trusted by every kid on campus, from conscientious objectors to conservative fraternity guys. Dusty helped me arrive at answers in the way a good chaplain does: He listened, asked questions, and maybe made a few suggestions. He never made a conclusion for you, instead helping light the way as you eked out your own path. We had one particularly influential conversation on an airplane, on our way to a student conference. I was still considering law school but starting to think more and more about ordination. I told Dusty about my father’s financial struggles. “I’ve seen what that’s like. I don’t need to be rich, but maybe I could go to law school and make some money and do good at the same time,” I said. “It’s true, you don’t get rich by being ordained,” he said. “But you’ll never starve, either. Your family will have enough to get by.” Thinking about my own family again, I realized that even under extreme circumstances, it was true. In the worst crises, we never starved, or even wanted. “You have to ask yourself what you want out of life. If it isn’t money, then maybe having enough is enough.” This conversation helped me get much clearer on myself. It wasn’t my dream to be rich. I knew I wanted to work for a better world. But should it be through law or public administration, or in the church? I meditated and prayed on that question, and I always felt myself coming back to my grandma.”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

“I suppose over time the loss becomes manageable, but it never completely goes away.”
― Michael B. Curry, Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times