Royal Distraction

Dear Family,

I know i will probably stand outside the norm and be labeled anti something or rather, but as i sit in my place of study and writing, Oakwood Starbucks, i realize that what is popping up all over the news, right now, "The Royal Wedding," just doesn't do it for me. It is something that, to me, consumes too much attention and news space, when there seems to be so much more that should be talked about, reported, illuminated, and shared. A wedding, with two people i dont know or have no interest in, means little to me. But the ongoing violence in Libya, Syria, and Nigeria, well those move my emotions and interests.


And as we sit on the resurrection side of Easter, having been commissioned by Jesus to go and preach the Gospel, i wonder what should be our focus, as Christ followers? What should move our monitors when it comes to global news? Is it wrong to watch or be curious about a royal get together? No. But when we become obsessed with two lives that do little for the Kingdom of God transforms something from a passing interest to a royal pain. The church, as far as i see it, needs less pain and more ministry.


Even as i write, what seems so impossible to grasp, is that our news covers the wedding, but in Alabama scores of people lost their lives, more lost homes, and the clean up will take weeks. Their story, their struggle is being trumped by money making media that worries less about the suffering of the little people than it does about the high society of royalty. Last i checked our country, the United States of America, was still supposed to be exist for the people, the little person, the person who doesn't know what Buckingham Palace is or looks like, and the person who may never know what living like a prince or princess feels like, though they might watch a good Disney flick to imagine it.


This is where the church must stand against the grain. It is easy, as we all know, to let the high society of life take priority and center stage, but as followers of Jesus, we must stand against, YES AGAINST, this all too easily accepted trend. We must, MUST, stand up and give voice to the widow and orphan. Jesus commands, COMMANDS, us to see the often ignored and easily forgotten. God, as the prophets of the Hebrew Testament illustrate, worries more about the poor and how they are treated than the rich and their elaborate weddings. It feels unjust to give so much attention to people whose wedding invite list seems more important than the sons and daughters in Iraq who are fighting a war for the same royalty. But thats just me.


But we can be different. No. We must be different. We must be in the world but not of it. We have to show the least of these that they have a voice; they have an advocate; they have a community to call their own; and there is a God who chooses them over CEO's of corrupt corporations. It is time, folks, for the church to be the church and let the chips fall where they fall, because wherever they fall, at least God's face will be shining upon us. And that makes it more than worthwhile. Amen...

Shalom,
Jerry