Over the Valentine’s Day holiday, messages of love will abound. Amidst the declarations of relational love, members of the Wayland Interfaith Leaders Association are joining together to send a message that “Justice is what love looks like in public.” Signs with this quote by African American scholar Cornel West will appear around Wayland at Community United Methodist, First Parish in Wayland, Good Shepherd Parish (St. Ann’s and St. Zepherin’s), Peace Lutheran, and the Temple Shir Tikva.

In promoting justice as the public embodiment of love, our hope is to support the work of building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community. Love is a central value and ethic within all of our religious traditions—Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Baha’i, and Unitarian Universalist.

As witnesses to the ongoing demonstrations of racism within our town and beyond, we seek to make clear that our values call us to support a multi-cultural, inclusive community. Love and justice are intertwined as we seek to build places of belonging for all persons.