I confess I didn’t watch the royal wedding, but I do not begrudge anyone who did. The new addition to the House of Windsor, Meghan Markle, promises to be unlike anyone who has occupied a prominent role in the British aristocracy, beginning with her African American heritage.

And that brings me to the part of the nuptials that is perhaps getting the most attention today – the stirring sermon by Bishop Michael Bruce Curry. It was a jolting surprise amidst the pomp and pageantry. The words were a balm for our troubled times, an unapologetic plea for the inclusive power of love, delivered with zest and zeal by the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States – the first African American to hold that position. This was about not just romantic love (as befitting a wedding address), but the love of empathy and decency that seems so missing today from many on the world stage, particularly the political leadership of the United States. In its ringing rhetoric and passionate delivery, I could hear the echoes of the currents of faith that helped power the civil rights movement. It is a vision of religion as a force for social good. And it was beauty to behold.

Despite the darkness, there are so many who refuse to give up the light of goodness. Bishop Curry has long been a voice for progressive inclusion, religious and otherwise. That he used the pulpit yesterday to share this good news with the world is a reason for hope. And that he was chosen for that role is hopefully a sign of more to come. I wish them a long and happy life together.

I leave you with an excerpt from the sermon, and watch the full segment above. I suggest you take the time to do so.

“Love is not selfish and self-centered. Love can be sacrificial, and in so doing, becomes redemptive. And that way of unselfish sacrificial redemptive love, changes lives and it can change this world.

If you don’t believe me, just stop and think and imagine, think and imagine, well, think and imagine a world where love is the way. Imagine our homes and families when love is the way. Imagine neighborhoods and communities where love is the way. Imagine governments and nations where love is the way. Imagine business and commerce when love is the way. Imagine this tired old world when love is the way.

When love is the way, unselfish, sacrificial, redemptive, when love is the way, then no child will go to bed hungry in this world ever again. When love is the way, we will let justice roll down like a mighty stream and righteousness like an ever-flowing brook. When love is the way, poverty will become history. When love is the way, the Earth will be a sanctuary. When love is the way, we will lay down our swords and shields, down by the riverside, to study war no more. When love is the way, there’s plenty good room, plenty good room, for all of God’s children because when love is the way, we actually treat each other well, like we are actually family. When love is the way, we know that God is the source of us all and we are brothers and sisters, children of God. My brothers and sisters, that’s a new heaven, a new Earth, a new world, a new human family.”