Monday Reflections: Love Is Action

In these uncertain times in higher education, we asked UM chaplains what gives them hope.
This is the final reflection about hope by our UM chaplains to encourage and strengthen you in your work and ministry.

“The moment we choose to love, we begin to move against domination, against oppression.
The moment we choose to love we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others.
That action is the testimony of love as the practice of freedom.”

– bell hooks

What gives me hope? It’s those three qualities: community, ethical action, deep commitment to the common good, that I see lived out every day here at North Central College. Photo by Kathleen Barry, UM Communications

The Rev. Max Blalock, Chaplain at North Central College

In 2019, I had the privilege of attending a seminar at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial and Museum in Washington, D.C., called “Religion, Ethics and the Holocaust.” The week-long seminar was led by the interfaith director of the Holocaust Museum and a Muslim scholar from Manhattan College who was only the Muslim director of a Holocaust museum in the world. The participants were primarily students getting their Ph.Ds. in Holocaust Studies, along with three rabbis and me. The seminar was one of the most transformative experiences of my life.  

One of the assignments we had was to read an article by the interfaith director, Dr. Victoria Barnett, about interfaith groups of women begun by a Protestant pastor in Berlin in the 1920s. With the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s, many of these groups transitioned to being resisters and rescuers. At the end of the article, she said three things that continue to move me, especially in times such as these.  

1. Just as participation with the Nazis was a social phenomenon, so was resisting and rescuing, and the work the women were able to do would have been impossible if they had not been a part of a community.  
2. Ethical action is always social action, because it always has a wider effect than just the people and circumstances being acted upon at the time.  
3. In all the studies that have been done of people who became resisters and rescuers, the most important factor is that each person had a deep-seated commitment “to the greater good, of responsibility for people who are complete strangers and are different.” 

 What gives me hope? It’s those three qualities above: community, ethical action, deep commitment to the common good, that I see lived out every day here at North Central.  

• The staff members who provide a fund to meet emergency needs of students.  
• The students who make the Voices of Praise Gospel Choir one of the most inclusive communities on campus.  
• The admissions staff ensuring Muslim high school students have a place for noon prayers.  
• The students leading worship every week who always make it clear that everyone is welcome.  
• The students and staff of Cardinal First providing community and support for first generation students on a campus that is over 40% first generation students. 

These students, faculty and staff vividly demonstrate that there are so many ways to embody love and to join in where it is already in action.

Prayer: On this day and every day, may we dare to embrace community, put our love into action and be deeply committed to the common good, especially for those who are most targeted and oppressed in our communities. May we dare to believe that together, we can change the world. Amen.