Circles of Love ©
Reverend Janet Parsons
Gloucester UU Church
February 13, 2022
Last week an article in the Boston Globe magazine caught my eye; it was about the legacy of Maria Mitchell, known as the first female astronomer in the United States. (“The Heirs of Maria Mitchell”, Feb. 6, 2022.) I say ‘known as’ because we discover over and over again these days that there are many marginalized people whose contributions to society and science have been hidden from view and forgotten.
When she was 17, in 1835, Maria decided to open a school for girls on Nantucket, where she lived. And the story continues that the first three girls who came inside that day were little girls of color, asking if they would be allowed to enroll.
Now this was no small thing in 1835. Even older progressive educators such as Bronson Alcott, father of Louisa May, were forced to confront the issue of admitting children of color, and risking having all their other pupils withdrawn by the parents as a result.
But Maria said yes. And in doing so, she drew a circle that included those girls. In bringing children of color into the circle, Maria was following her Quaker upbringing that also, for that time, drew wide circles, allowing girls to be educated as well as boys.
In our reading this morning we heard the story of Margaret Mosely, the Black woman who sought to become a nurse, in Boston in the 20th century. She was denied admittance to the nursing schools, because of the color of her skin. Margaret, like so many, were excluded.
These stories remind me of the little poem by Edwin Markham:
“He drew a circle that shut me out-
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle and took him In!”
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, and it’s a day given over to thoughts of romantic love between people. But in commemorating Valentine’s Day today we take a wider view – we talk more about agape, as I mentioned earlier – about the love that is not just focused on romance, but rather on the care of each other, the desire for everyone to be held in love, to be cared for, to be treated with empathy and compassion.
- Powell Davies, whose writing we heard a few minutes ago, had this to say about agape: “It is love that yearns, creates, encompasses, and understands, a love that is full of compassion, that pardons and forgives. In the final economy of the universe, in the mystery of life’s meaning and of God’s purpose, this love ‘never faileth.’” (Collected Meditations on Liberal Religion, p.39.)
Cornel West, the African American writer, social critic, and activist, once said that “justice is what love looks like in public.” I would expand on that here today and suggest that inclusion is what love looks like in public; simply saying yes, every chance we get, to opening doors, drawing wide circles, making it possible for people to flourish, to fulfill their destinies.
As Unitarian Universalists, we are called to extend agape to one another. Sometimes we can forget this: our language is too much from our heads, and not from our hearts. We like to talk about the inherent worth and dignity of all people, for example. As some of us were commenting last week, the word ‘love’ does not appear anywhere in our seven principles. The closest we come is to mention ‘compassion’, which of course brings us closer to agape.
Our Universalist heritage did a better job, with its insistence that God is love, and that this love embraces all life. As Elizabeth Nguyen put it in our reading just now, “Universalism means no one is outside of the circle of love, and no one is disposable.” Over the centuries we have broadened our language, so that we do not simply speak about universal salvation – the idea that a loving God would never reject and punish people for eternity. Now we speak about no one being left behind, about how we are conceived out of the great loving force of the universe, and to that source of love we return when our lives here are finished. This circle of love is the universe, and no one is outside of it.
“But love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle and took him in!”
Radical inclusion makes me think of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus made space and time for the poor, for women, for those who were sick. His efforts to bring his vision of the realm of God to earth were meant for everyone. His was a ministry of compassion and inclusion.
Despite his example, over the centuries too much human energy has been wasted on trying to exclude people. Maria Mitchell herself never attended college. When she became a professor at Vassar in 1865, the children of color whom she had taught 30 years before would not have been allowed to attend. And we heard the story of Margaret Mosely, excluded from nursing schools in Boston in the 20th century.
And the efforts to exclude have never stopped. Here in the 21st century we continue to exclude: from country clubs, from exclusive communities, from careers, from the voting booth. The practice of excluding others is the manifestation of fear and hatred, not the manifestation of love. We marginalize those with disabilities, with mental illness, all who do not fit.
Love calls us to draw the circle wide, to invite everyone in. If everyone doesn’t fit, then the circle isn’t wide enough. Draw another one.
In a world where no one is left out of the circle of love, the circle must be as large as the universe. “No one is outside, and no one is disposable.” On this weekend when we honor love, let us remember how love manifests in its highest form: as agape, as connection, as inclusion. May you look for ways to include wherever you go.
Blessed be,
Amen.
