By

We are gathered here this morning to walk together on a similar path to faith. That is the reason why we gather here on a weekly basis; to walk together and to support each other in our paths of faith. We are all individuals, and although we may or may not have a similar understanding of our faiths, all of our paths will differ from one another. This individuality of our paths of faith is not a bad thing at all, but rather it represents one of the things that our faith tradition holds to be true: that there are many paths of faith. The fact that we are all individuals proves this idea. The fact that there are many people that we know that have a much different path of faith also proves this idea, because although different, all of these paths are still paths of faith. There is not one path that is “better” than another, nor is there one path that is “right” while the others are “wrong.” They are all simply different from one another.

We gather here because most of us would agree with this idea, and this is one of the similarities that our paths have. Our acknowledgement of our individual yet equal paths draws us together as a church and allows us to explore the individual aspects of our paths while sharing in the similarities. It is this overwhelming support from our church community that has allowed me to explore my own path of faith and to feel secure in sharing it with you all.

My path of faith has been easy to find, but hard to pin down and describe. I have spent years thinking over what I believe and what I hold to be true. The whole time my feelings stayed generally the same but have changed in some ways as well. I expect that as I grow and mature my thoughts and feelings in my path of faith will change some more, but I value the security I have with my thoughts and feelings in my path of faith now.

My path of faith values the divinity of love, and also immersing oneself in all aspects of it. I believe that love is the reason why we exist and love is one of the most meaningful things we as people can experience in life. But what is love?

Love is different according to different people. My idea of love is different than the ideas of those around me but also different than my own ideas yesterday. That’s one of the great things about having my own path of faith; I’m always moving down it because I am always experiencing things that can help me define what I believe.

In truth, I don’t think that love has a definition. Love is too vast and integrated into other feelings to have a specific definition. It does, however, have a description. But even this is hard to explain because there are so many different aspects of love to describe.

My idea of love is a feeling of peace and trust, but also one of overwhelming power. Love is not just a feeling but also an intellectual position. It can be wonderful and it can be cruel, it can be controlling or it can be hidden. It can come in so many ways that it can be and often is overwhelming. But love is almost always experienced in one way or another.

Love cannot be confined into a single experience because life offers us too many experiences in which we can love. A person may be in love with another person and thus experiences love, but that same person experiences love with their friends, with their surroundings, and with their ideas. The way one loves a partner is different than the way one loves a friend, or the world around them, or the beauty of their mind and soul. All of those experiences, however, are experiences of love, and almost all human beings find one of these experiences within their own lives.

It has been my experiences with love that has shaped my thoughts about it and helped me continue on my path of faith. Once my path led me to feel the importance of love, more issues of faith started to arise. One of these issues was whether or not I truly loved all souls. I thought long and hard about this. Did I really love every single soul? To answer this question I needed to travel further down my path of faith. It turned out that I did in fact love all souls. I knew that I loved love, and I knew that I felt that every soul had the capability to love as well. Since all souls have the capability to love, I trust that they will at some point and it is these feelings of love that will make the world a better place. And so I found my answer: I loved all souls because all souls can love. It is the simple ability to love that, to me, makes all souls worth loving.

It is this idea that reflects another truth that we as a congregation tend to agree on: the idea that we should love all souls. My own individual path of faith has led me to where I can draw similarities between my path and the paths of others sitting here.

The other aspect of love that my path of faith has led me to is that one should not shelter themselves from it but rather immerse themselves in love. Love can cause us to feel both good and bad, but since both are a part of love and love is part of what gives meaning to life, people should allow themselves to experience all parts of love in order to experience part life. It is the pain of love that allows us to be able to comprehend the gift of love, and both are a part of life.

You might be thinking that a person who has seemingly lost everybody close to them is living without love. I believe, however, that love comes to us in so many unseen ways and life brings us so many unseen opportunities to experience love that one can never be completely shut out. Even in the most dire situations love can be found and new love can be developed. My job is not only to love all souls but to keep my heart and mind open to being able to receive love. This means that although I feel I should fully experience the pain of loss, I will not hold onto bitterness and disappointment and allow it to prevent me from loving again. In experiencing love and subsequent loss, one truly comes to appreciate love and can hold out for the hope of love returning.

I also believe that love is greater than simply the bonds between people. Love can be found in everyday events and experiences, but is often overlooked. I feel the power of love in nature all the time. For example, I feel love in the first snowfall of winter, the return of birds in the spring, the warm nights of summer, and the dance of falling leaves. These are places where I look to find love beyond the love I receive from other people.

I also can find love in the beauty of the mind. I feel love when I learn about something that I feel passionately about or when I explore new areas of knowledge. When I think about the accumulation of knowledge that any human gains in a lifetime, I am amazed by the power and potential people have, and that gives me a feeling of love for the human mind.

I find hope in knowing that there is so much love the world has to offer me and so many possibilities for me to love. I find comfort in the fact that there is so much love around me, I don’t even realize its vast potential. I know that throughout my entire life, I will love and be loved whether I realize it or not.

It is love that gives me a meaning for the present part of my life and also gives me hope for the future. It is my love for all souls that bonds me to others and my belief that I am loved that perpetuates the bond between all people. This is where my own path of faith has led me, and this is where I will continue on in my thoughts and feelings of love and faith.