If you are at all like me, it is easy these days to find oneself overwhelmed by all noise and chaos in the world around us. It often feels as if we’re constantly surrounded by a never-ending barrage of discordant information, opinions, and conflicting messages. From the relentless flow of news and social media updates to the heightened anxiety of global crises, it’s hard to find a moment of stillness. Thankfully, I have found a personal respite—sitting on hard gymnasium bleachers watching hours and hours of basketball and volleyball. It is not uncommon to listen to the laments of the other parents about the seemingly unending all-day tournaments and the uncomfortable seating options! While these things are certainly true, there is also a sense of peace and calm that comes over me as I am able to tune out everything else in the world for a while and simply be present in the moment cheering on my kids, enjoying watching them do things they love, and, occasionally, raising my voice to share my opinions on a recent call by the officials I may not have agreed with!
At one of these tournaments just last weekend, I heard the fans cheering for a particular player on my daughter’s team and this young girl’s name reminded me of a favorite movie that I haven’t watched in years, Where the Heart Is. In this 2000 film, Natalie Portman plays a young, pregnant woman by the name of Novalee Nation who is running off to California with her boyfriend. When she comes out from a bathroom stop at a Wal-Mart in a small Oklahoma town, the boyfriend is gone. Abandoned and knowing no one, she takes up residence inside the Wal-Mart where she delivers her baby, Americus. The story makes the evening news and she is eventually taken in and loved by a cast of quirky and endearing townsfolk, each with their own unique personalities, struggles, and often painful life stories. They help Novalee discover the true meaning of home, family, and love. But there is also a pair of eccentric and judgmental Christians, Sister Husband and Brother Husband, who are determined to “save” Novalee and her baby from their perceived sins no matter what it takes. These contrasting ways of relating to Novalee and Americus weave their way throughout the movie as it explores themes of identity, community, and the power of human connection. Themes that we would all do well to continue to evaluate here in 2025.
The stark reality is that we live in a world, today, where division and hate seem to be on the rise. Which is why the words from yesterday’s lectionary reading from the Gospel of Luke offer us such a radical alternative. When many—often under the guise of religion itself—seek to tell us who is worthy of our love and who we should hate, Luke turns things upside down. Luke suggests that we need to love our enemies. That we should do good to those who hate us. That we must forgive those who have wronged us. Instructions that are perfectly clear and yet seem so incredibly counterintuitive to how we often feel inside.
There is a point in the movie where Novalee, speaking to a woman who has experienced the same kinds of pain and tragedies she has, says, “We’ve all got meanness in us and we’ve all got goodness in us. The only thing worth living for is the goodness.” The only thing worth living for is the goodness. Which is exactly what Luke is getting at, isn’t it? That Jesus is showing us a different way to live. Trying to give us a glimpse of what the Kin-dom of God really looks like. Reminding us that when we live with a profound sense of the unending grace that God has given us and reflect that grace in how we relate to and love one another, we can actually bring about that Kin-dom not as some far off, distant place someday in the future, but right here and now today. Which is exactly what the world needs. Exactly what each one of us needs.
One of the privileges we have as conference staff is to see firsthand all of the ways our churches are doing this important work “goodness” each and every day. Sometimes it happens in big, bold ways that catch the attention of the evening news. And we celebrate that! But more often than not, it happens quietly, in ways that often go mostly unnoticed. It happens when the church opens its food pantry to a person who is hungry, even though they’ve used up their limit for the month. It happens when the quilting group presents a blanket to a grieving church member who has lost a lifelong partner. It happens when a young person from the community ducks into the backrow of the church with the rainbow banner hanging outside and hears a gospel of welcome and love and acceptance that they don’t get anywhere else in their life.
As Novalee said, “The only thing worth living for is the goodness.” In the midst of the noise and chaos and division and hatred oozing all around us, how will you find ways to do good today?
Rev. Corey Larson
Association Conference Minister
Iowa, Nebraksa, and South Dakota Conferences
United Church of Christ