Breaking News

I was in a meeting yesterday that involved our Bishop.  She said that while she was in the Atlanta Airport, she saw a person wearing a t-shirt that said, "Breaking News: No one cares."  Reading the t-shirt made her sad.  How does it make you feel?

I have two thoughts about the message on the shirt, and they are opposite sides of a coin, so to speak.  I'm not certain what message the wearer of the shirt wanted to convey.  Did she mean that no one cares about anyone, including that no one cares about her?  That is doesn't matter - she and no one else are beloved, and no one cares about her or about you.  Breaking news.  Or does she mean it as a more personal message? Does she mean that she hears you talking, but, really, no one cares what you are saying, especially her. Breaking news: no one cares.  Stop talking.  Stop sharing. Stop.  No one cares.

Either way, it is a failure of the church, don't you think? If she believes no one cares about anyone else, then she hasn't experienced that anyone has cared for her.  If she wants to convey the message that she doesn't care about anyone else, then she hasn't been taught to love. 

For us, the people who believe that everyone is beloved of God, this is an issue, and it calls us to action.  The only way to change the world (and the message on the t-shirt) is to love the people we know, and the people we don't know.  To love, as we have been taught to love.