Can We Find a Silver Lining in the Last Weeks’ Terrible News?
Today’s reflection is from Bondings 2.0 Contributor, Angela Howard McParland.
Today’s liturgical readings for the 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time can be found here.
I am typically an optimist. I like to do my best to assume people’s best intentions, account for possible underlying traumas that might explain bad behavior, and generally hope that all things are working for good in some yet-to-be-seen fashion, even when all signs pointy otherwise.
And yet, I’ll be honest that these last few weeks working at the intersection of faith and justice amidst flurries of executive orders, fear, and chaos have tested my abilities to find that silver lining.
At first glance, today’s Scripture readings give a similarly dismal view of human nature, or at least caution us not to put our hope in humanity’s capabilities to work towards building the Beloved Community. In his typical curmudgeonly way, the prophet Jeremiah declares that those who hope in human endeavors are “like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season.”
In the middle of February in New England, under opposite, but similarly extreme weather conditions, that image feels especially dismal. When transgender people are targeted by the current presidential administration, and attempts are made to erase their identities prevent them from participating in sports, limit their employment options, and deny them life-saving healthcare, it can feel like Jeremiah has a point about placing hope in the works of humans, especially those with power and privilege.
Jesus’s Sermon on the Plain in Luke’s Gospel picks up this condemnation of power and privilege by preaching blessings on those who are suffering, excluded, mocked, and denounced. This radical reversal of blessing and hope–that those most oppressed are beloved to God and held close to God’s presence–doesn’t mean we simply stand by while the LGBTQ+ community is the target of hatred and discrimination. Rather, this reversal serves as a reminder that this world is still so far from God’s vision for all of us and that we have our work cut out for us as we build solidarity rooted in hope and love.
Jeremiah imagines that those trusting in God are like a tree planted near running water, always nourished and bearing fruit. So we too must root ourselves firmly in our commitment that all people should flourish as the image of God and in God’s unceasing love for each of us, just as we are. We must stretch our own roots to do this work.
Even as the reminder from scripture is to place our hope firmly with God and not humanity, it takes our very human hands, feet, and hearts to sow love over hate, and inclusion over division.
—Angela Howard McParland (she/her), New Ways Ministry, February 16, 2025
AMEN! 🙏
Thank you!
What a beautiful way to find that silver lining in today’s news!
Thank you, Angela.
Your way of seeing God siding with the poor–even though not quite evident yet, without our assistance–is very hopeful Good News that I/we need right now. A striking point in today’s Lukan Gospel is the word “is.” “Yours IS the Kingdom of God,” Jesus says to the “poor.” It is the only Beatitude in the present tense; all the others are future tense. It makes me want to pray aloud, “Oh yeah, Lord?…where IS it?” Perhaps it is as a friend told me recently, ‘It is our “poorness”–in whatever sphere we are referring to it, that makes us draw close to God’s love (or should do so, anyway.) Those who aren’t “poor,” who have no real needs, almost don’t need God. Or so they think until they lose something. “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.” Would I be this close to God if I didn’t grow up gay? Especially with the negative beliefs the world and church taught me about myself when I was young? I needed God! I needed someone or some way that would help me discover my goodness, and my reason for God creating me so. Thank you, God, for showing me this Kingdom even now, not just waiting for the future.