30 Days of Love: A Social Justice Spiritual Journey
With social justice as their spiritual journey focus, the interfaith public advocacy group Standing on the Side of Love has started their 2013 Thirty Days of Love campaign. Standing on the Side of Love calls for religious people to harness love’s power to stop oppression by standing for respect, inclusion, and compassion in public debates on issues like LGBTQ equality. Thirty Days of Love is a project that was born of their re-imagining of Valentine’s Day as a social justice holiday. It has now become “a month-long spiritual journey and commitment to sustained action and service.”
The goal of Thirty Days is to influence attitudes and public policy by elevating compassionate religious voices. From January 19th to February 17th, each week has a theme and each day has a Daily Action for participants to complete. Week 1, “Honoring Legacy,” is anchored in the commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and is focused on lifting up the change-makers that came before us. Today’s Daily Action is to make a commitment to honor courageous love in your community.
Week 2’s theme “Think Interfaith” encourages believers to “unite with those from different backgrounds who share our common goal of a more just and loving world.” This effort to break down barriers is continued Week 3 with the theme of “Move Beyond Borders,” and Week 4 culminates the campaign with “Share the Love.” Their website’s February 14th quotation effectively sums up the mission of Thirty Days of Love: “Love isn’t an emotion or even an intention, but a policy, a vow, a behavior. It must be embodied to become real. Love exists only in action.” –Rev. Tom Owen-Towle
To put love into action by participating in this campaign, go to the Thirty Days of Love website.
Photo courtesy of Standing on the Side of Love.