BACK TO SCHOOL WEEK: School of Love

Here’s the Q:

Our congregation has just transitioned to the Carver Model for governance. Our new council is currently defining the END (or ENDs) which is/are to articulate ‘our reason for being a faith community at this time and in this place’.
Having completed a careful reading of your book ‘A New Kind of Christianity’ (and agreeing with your response to the sixth question … and also the tenth), I’m proposing a start-up effort that in time (if successful) would transform the congregation into ‘a school of love’.
Can you suggest any resources? Do you have any suggestions? Is there anyone for me to dialogue with?
Thank you for writing the book, and for any response you can make to this request.

R: It’s amazing, when you think about it, that our faith has existed for nearly 2000 years without developing a coherent “curriculum for love.” Many of us are thinking about this, and now you are part of the solution too.
Here’s one very small, yet very powerful suggestion.
Have every group, every committee, every class read aloud 1 Corinthians 13:1-8a, 13:13-14:1a before every meeting, with these words: “Our main goal in this meeting is to practice the way of love. Every difference, every tension, every vulnerability, even every mistake will provide us an opportunity to grow in love.”
Then at the end of the meeting, you could re-read the passage, inviting a time of prayer: “Let’s confess where we have not walked the way of love, and let’s celebrate where we have.”
An alternate passage (the other love chapter) could be Romans 12:9-21. Or 1 John 4:7-21.*
I hope you’ll keep a journal of what you learn through your process. It could be valuable to a lot of other faith communities that follow your example.
*By the way, if you want a singable version of 1 Corinthians 13 – here’s one I wrote. It’s “If We Don’t Have Love.” You can preview the whole song and purchase it if you’d like – there’s also sheet music available.