To love democracy….

To love democracy

is to defend the right to fly the flag,

and the right to burn it.

To love liberty

is to guard the voices of Kirk and Kimmel alike.

Protecting the right to speak

is not the same as celebrating what is spoken.

It is the cost of freedom,

the burden of a people who believe in democracy.

Freedom may guard our voices,

but only Love can guide them.

For those who confess Christ,

freedom becomes vocation.

To love our neighbor

is to see God’s image

in our friends and our enemies,

and to live as though every neighbor

and every enemy

actually carries this image still.

So our calling is more than defense.

It is to shape our words into mercy and truth.

To refuse the habits of cruel or callous speech.

To remember that words can weave us together

or drive us apart.

Let us fiercely defend the right of free speech,

and just as fiercely devote ourselves

to words that build up,

rather than break down.

To using our voice to heal,

not harm.

To sowing hope,

not hate.

Let us wield this freedom not as a weapon,

but as a gift.

Let our words not sharpen into swords,

but soften into bridges,

where liberty and love walk hand in hand.