We Are Born To Be Lovers
by Jimmy Creech
October 2003
We are born to be lovers. We are not meant to be alone. Basic to who we are as human beings is the instinct to reach out from ourselves to care for, nurture, empower and protect those we love; and, it is basic to each of us to desire and accept the care, nurture, empowerment and protection from those who love us. To love is to be connected, to be in a mutual and equal relationship others. Out of such love grows intimacy, friendship, marriage, family and community.
Our love is embodied. Our sexuality is the physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual capacity to give and to receive love. Having affectionate feelings for another is not enough. We cannot love intimately and truly without our whole selves, without our bodies. Love must be physical as well as emotional, intellectual and spiritual.
The capacity to love is not just a gift from God, it is God’s presence alive and active in our very beings. We embody God when we love. To be a lover is what is meant when we say we are created in God’s image. To be a lover is to know God. There is no such thing as an unholy love.
Love knows no boundaries, no barriers, no limits. It is the nature of love to push us out of selfishness, fear and ignorance to overcome boundaries and barriers in order to love another person.
Love is free without restraints. Loving someone intimately is a human right that cannot be regulated by law, religion or culture. There is no government, no religion, no cultural custom that has the authority, the power to tell us who we must love intimately. And, there is no government, no religion, no cultural custom that has the authority, the power to tell us we cannot love someone intimately because of her or his race, ethnicity, religion, class, family or gender. To love someone intimately is to be connected to that person on a deep and spiritual level that defies and ignores all social categories and classifications of people.
Let no one tell you that your love is unnatural, immoral, unhealthy or sinful because your love does not conform to their prejudices and fears. Love between persons is more than normal, more than wholesome: it is divine.
Trust you love. Believe in it. It is love that makes a marriage and a family, not government and not religion. Honor your love as precious and innately holy. Don’t wait for others to honor it. Your love does not depend upon someone else’s approval or acceptance. And, the more you honor your love, the more others will understand your love and honor your love.
Trust your love. Believe in it and you will change the world!
Blessing Liturgy:
Greeting (to all)
Holy and beautiful people, we’ve come together in the presence of God to celebrate the marriages and families you have created and sustained by your love and mutual trust in spite of prejudice, resistance and denial.
You are testimonies to the power of love to do good even in the face of evil, to create life even in the shadow of death.
You truly are blessings to the world.
So, today, we offer our blessings upon you with immense gratitude for your witness: for who you are, for your courage and dignity,
and look forward to that day when all the world will join us in honoring and blessing your marriages and families as holy.
Blessing (upon each couple/family)
(Names), as God has blessed you with love for one another and with the life you share together as a family, we joyfully celebrate with you your marriage of hearts, minds and bodies.
We pray God’s continued blessings of peace and joy on your home all the coming days of your life together, so that the love that you have for one another will grow and deepen in intimacy and richness.
We pray that in the days of trial and hardship, you will be blessed with confidence and strength to endure and prevail together.
We pray that in the days of happiness and good fortune, you will be blessed with compassion and charity to share with a hurting world.
Be strong of heart. Hold each other close. Trust your love.
Amen.