Love. Dreams. Here’s a question for us in our liberal churches. What is the deep dream of the human heart that calls us to work for racial justice, to work for civil rights for gay, lesbian and transgender people, for the poor, and the disenfranchised?

Reverend James Ishmael Ford is minister emeritus of the First Unitarian Church of Providence. Retired from parish ministry he has been consulting with Los Angeles area churches for the past several years. He is also a Zen teacher and writer. His sixth book, The Intimate Way of Zen: Effort, Surrender, and Awakening on the Spiritual Journey is forthcoming in July from Shambhala Publications.