In his blog, “Prayer and Politics,” Ken Sehested writes, “Kindred, the news is bleak.” He continues by listing the many reasons for this.  The medium wealth of Black households is a tenth of whites, the wildfires in California have set another record in size and destruction, 30 million families lacked sufficient nutrition last week and the federal minimum wage is $7.25 – the lowest it’s been since the 1969’s when adjusted for inflation while CEO Jeff Bezos earns approximately $8,961,187 per hour.

Yes, the news is bleak. 

What are we as Christians supposed to do?  Sometimes I just want to sit in my chair at home and read fiction or watch movies just to get my head out of reality.  While there is nothing wrong with this, as Christians we are called to accomplish more.  But what if accomplishing more doesn’t do us any good? What if the Supreme Court is set to become increasingly more conservative than the majority of Americans?  What if because of the electoral college, we get a President who isn’t respected by the majority of the American public or even the world?

Yes, the news is bleak. 

Marcia Mount Shoop preached on the parable of the vineyard this past Sunday. (Matt. 20:1-16)  It’s a parable that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in our world.  Why does the landowner give the same amount of money to the folks who only worked one hour that he gave to those who worked all day?  In our world that isn’t fair.  In our world we are rewarded for productivity not for just being alive.  Marcia said, “The truth is that God’s generosity defines us, not our productivity.”  The land owner was generous and did not care about productivity.

Marcia continued, “This passage is not about fairness, or even equity, it’s about love.”  And love is difficult for us especially now. She continues, “Unlearning scarcity and learning to love means giving ourselves to the grief that this epochal transition of the human family is calling us to share.  Grief is love.  Grief is an abundance of love.”

So let us grieve together.  The news is and will continue to be bleak.  But in spite of it all, we can love.  Marcia asks, “Where will we be in the story of Empire’s demise – will we be the complainers, the gossipers, the resentful ones, the defensive ones, the ones who spend our energy defending against shame and finding people to blame?  Or will we be the people who amplify Christ’s love – the kind of love that is generous.?”

At the end of the sermon Marcia said, “Siblings in Christ – you are loved.  The world needs for you to embrace that truth –because Jesus’ revolution isn’t fueled by a scarcity of love –this revolution is powered by a love that is willing to accompany us even unto the death of all we thought mattered the most.”

Yes, the news is bleak but in the midst of it, we are called to love and that is what I’m going to do.