"Love is the only answer, but medieval talk about love does nothing."

I’ve been sitting with those words from the mystic Thomas Merton, and they’ve hit me right where I live. If you’ve been with me for the last seven years, you know my creed: I am alive to love, and I believe all lesser values devolve easily into "BS"—that bait-and-switch that keeps us from the reality of how we are meant to live.

As we approach the final days of 2025, I’m feeling a fire in my heart to raise an alarm. The ancient, dusty discussions of love just don’t cut it anymore for the "wild and wooly" world we’re living in. Life is a beast; it shoves us around, and if we don't have a practical, radical reality of love to lean on, we get reckless.

We are closing out the year in the spirit of Advent—celebrating the silence. I want to help you build your own "fortress of solitude" where you can be hit by the radiant supremacy of God’s love, far away from the noise of the world.

Let's stop the ancient talk and start the new walk. Let’s rise and shine and go do something beautiful.

Advent invites us to celebrate the multiple paths of how Love is defined by this greatest of all stories in Christmas. “For God so loved the world…that He gives us His Son.” SO LOVED that He gave.

SO LOVED that the virgin Mary was visited by the angel of the Lord to announce that she had been chosen. SO LOVED that shepherds keeping watch over their flocks at night were serenaded by a choir of angels singing, “Good news, of great joy, which shall be to all people.” SO LOVED that the Magi/Kings of the east were drawn by a Star hovering over Bethlehem and the newborn King. SO LOVED that we have been given the greatest story ever told!

In this episode, I distinguish between the Advent season (the coming of Christ, His first coming) and the Christmas season, urging you to embrace the original revelation of Christ. I share reflections on the radical inclusivity of God's love, extending to "all people" from a humble peasant girl like Mary to the working-class shepherds and the mystical Magi (Wise Men). I also explore the power of the Lord's Prayer and the personal challenge of Love's Creed: “I am unavailable for anything less than love.”

I conclude with a call to end the "Christmas Wars" by leading with love and deference, choosing to say "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas" based on a spirit of inclusion and kindness.

The power of love veritably floods the airwaves of our churches, radio, TV, and social media. The power of Love is shining in brilliant colors throughout our neighborhoods. The power of Love is delightfully celebrated in children’s Christmas programs in our schools and churches.

Let's do something beautiful this season. Ugly is getting done to death. Let's rise to the shining of love.

For six years now, this show has been a labor of love for me, a discussion of the pinnacle of life: Love, and love alone. It is the credible, supreme value for my entire religion.

Today, I’m diving deep into my topic: the transcendent supremacy of love. I'm convinced love is this power, this supreme, nuclear force that stands above all others. It’s what launches lives, families, and churches. Even if I deeply disagree with someone or find their behavior repugnant, I refuse to act in any way other than love. It is the ground of all existence—God is love, and love is God, and that's why everything was created!

Love is a force of nature, an unchanging founding principle. Just like gravity holds you down, or the sun's light travels across space, love is simply there. I don't have to decide if it will or won't be; I just have to decide whether I will join this existential reality.

I liken us to the Wright brothers and sisters of love. We're still launching our little paper airplanes into this incredible aerodynamic wonder. But just like they harnessed the laws of nature to fly, we are called to cooperate with the force of love, to throw our sail up to catch the wind. Love requires our participation. It takes intention, authenticity, and a purpose-filled mind to fully step into this supreme power.

In this tumultuous, fear-filled culture, let us be people who stretch our wings out into the laws of love’s aerodynamic beauty, flying above the hate and the vitriol. The laws of love are in existence, just waiting for our discovery. Let’s be present, be kind, and love more, love now.

Go into the world today and do something beautiful. May everyone we meet encounter love, and know that they’ve been breathing rare air when they’re around us.

In this episode, I am asking you two fundamental questions: Who do you love? And what do you love? Believe it or not, there is a lot more there than meets the eye. I invite you to sit down and actually make a list. Whether it is your spouse, your friends, your "fur baby" like my dog Dixie, playing a guitar, or even just a solid nap, identifying these loves establishes your priorities. I explore the principle that love will find a way to return to you because what you plant, you will reap. Karma can be your best pal if you plant love, so you must ensure you are giving at the level you hope to receive.

I also challenge you to normalize the power of saying "I love you" with full intention and attention. It is easy to get into the habit of just rapid-firing it out, but I am asking you to go deeper. Love is the food we are emotionally starved for, and saying it authentically breaks us free from the prisons of fear. Even if it feels awkward, let your presence light new light in the hearts of others. We don't change the world by standing on a big stage; we change the world simply by changing the moment we are in. Ugly is getting done to death, and it is time for the people of love to do something beautiful. Rise and shine with me—love more, love now.

I'm here to tell you, love is a far more sustaining human practice when it's taken into a practical work of our life. It's the heavy lifting of life the mountain climb, the marathon, because if we don't succeed at the project of love, far too many other things just don't matter.

Listen in as I give you these 10 practical practices, including: Being a hospitable person, welcoming to all; Listening beyond the ordinary; Creating an advice-free zone; Making room for an unpopular response, because labeling is lazy; Listening with silence; Knowing how to suspend judgment; Learning to turn to wonder when stuff gets tight; and Recognizing that all voices have value.

Join me in this great adventure. Let's go out there and do something beautiful every day, every blessed day, because ugly is getting done to death. It's time for the people of beauty and love to insert that beauty and love into every moment of every day.

I believe a hard truth: We, folks of faith, are not here to defend the institutions of Christianity, nor are we here to defend the institutionalized leaders who demand unquestioning allegiance.

Institutional Christianity has its own "spiritual asbestos" that needs to be removed. All the passion we spend defending the institution should be redirected only to love God, to love our neighbors, and to love our enemies.

Unquestioning followership has led to crisis and a loss of credibility. The credibility of Christianity is in love, not in our organizational charts. We must be brave enough to look at the painful truth and live our lives for love alone.

The biggest mistake we are making is we continue to think we've got time. Be present. Be kind. Love, more love. Now.

This week I'm challenging us all to stop making life about being right and start making it about being loved and being loving.

I believe the real issues we face are all found in the nuclear core of the power of love activated inside us. But too often, we've let our culture devolve into division and fighting. I’m inspired by one of my favorite authors, Felicia Murrell, who writes:

“I think the broad sweeping generalizations on both sides are killing us all... As a society, we’ve made life about being right instead of being loved.”

We have all suffered from love deprivations—deficiencies of love that we’ve accommodated as normal. It leads to fighting, resentment, and a relentless need to prove a point.

But as Presiding Bishop Michael Curry says, this love thing is not owned or controlled by anyone: The source is God. No one votes it in or out.

I'm calling on you to join me in the relentless pursuit of love.

• Confront your deprivations and recognize where love has been withheld.

• Practice the Love's Creed to keep love on your daily to-do list.

• Be courageous and disrupt the awkwardness by saying the three most holy words: I love you.

Let’s turn this anxious ship around, folks! It's going to take all of us to change the world, one breath and one act of love at a time.

Are you ready to join me and make the U-turn: stopping the fight to be right and starting the work of being loved?

I'm diving deep into my life’s purpose today: Preach Love hotter than any religious flame. Live Love more outrageous than any political rage. Lift Love higher than the heavens and deeper than any hell.

This is a direct challenge to the noise in our world.

• Preach Love Hotter: Don't let rigid doctrines or religious passion overshadow the fierce, pure fire of love. We shouldn't be preaching hellfire; we should be preaching a love that burns with the flames of heaven's beauty. I walk you through the Lord's Prayer and my Love's Creed to help you keep love as the one true target.

• Live Love More Outrageous: When faith and political rage mix, the result pushes people away. I’m telling you: you can’t serve two masters. Stop letting political fury set your agenda. We are called to be outrageous lovers showing a radical love for our enemies, our neighbors, and those on the "other side." This love must be more extreme than any rage you see.

• Lift Love Higher and Deeper: Heaven and hell are not just things to worry about when you die; they are realities we live now. The key to eternal life is letting go of the selfish hell that is eating you alive. As I always say, where you're going is where you are. I believe there is no hell so deep that the love of God cannot reach it.

This isn't about signing a card; it’s about a life you choose to live. Give up what's choking you be it wealth, hate, or rage and come live love higher than the heavens and deeper than any hell.

Take this challenge: Today, risk saying the three most holy words to someone: I love you. It's a risk that will change you.

I'm Bishop Randy Dean, your No BS Bishop.

#NoBSBishop #LoveDeeperThanHell #PreachLove #LiveLove #LoveIsTheOnlyWay #RandyDean

Live It Now