What's Love Got To Do With It?

OK, I admit it! I recorded the Harry and Meghan wedding and watched it later in the day. All the women in the family were at a lets-watch-the-rerun-of-the-wedding brunch. It too was very formal. Everyone in sweats, flowery hats, and flutes filled with bubbly. I was home alone, so why not get in on the social event of the year.

The Brits know how to do pageantry like no one else; no red carpet for them. The swells walked down the middle of the road from the castle to the chapel, the better to be seen. There’s Fergie. There are George and Amal. There is Prince Harry with his future-king brother. Is that Elton John? The Queen and Phillip rode to the chapel; they are in their 90s after all.

Like all major events of this type, we knew what to expect. We’ve seen it before. Pomp and circumstance, bishops in bejeweled copes and miters, trumpet fanfares for the Queen, organs bellowing Bach and Faure with a little Mozart mixed in for good measure. The men donned morning suits and the women wore Givenchy, Armani, and Alexander McQueen frocks with plumed fascinators atop their heads. If we’ve seen one royal wedding, we’ve seen them all. Until . . . !

A descendant of slaves and sharecroppers, Chicago born, Buffalo raised, a graduate of Hobart College, Yale Divinity School, and Wake Forest, the Primate and Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the US rose to say a few words about love to the bride and groom, and he lit up the world. “Two young people fell in love, and we all showed up.”[i]

I’ve spent a lot of time in churches over the years, but I’ve heard very few sermons, homilies, exhortations, that really got my attention, made me sit up straight, pay attention, listen to the nuance, feel the cadence, or shout “Amen.” Bishop Curry’s plea for love in the world was a spellbinder, one for the ages, historic!

Remember Tina Turner’s question – What’s love got to do with it?[ii]  Michael Curry took us on a fifteen-minute journey that answered that question, with a passion seldom heard,  seen, or felt in staid, traditional worship spaces, or denominations more accustomed to the classic, the ritual, and the quiet.

Bishop Curry lifted up Martin Luther King Jr.; ‘We must discover the power of love. And when we do that, we will make this old world a new world.” He lifted up Scripture; “Love your neighbor as yourself” and think of the difference that would make in the world. People listened. “Love God, love your neighbors and while you’re at it, love yourself” and think of how that would change the world.

He asked us to imagine, “Think and imagine a world where love is the way, imagine homes and families where love is the way, imagine neighborhoods and communities where love is the way.” Our nation is divided; pundits look at the warring camps and write about the differences, and they ask why. I look at statistics and ask why we aren’t as one. I search the web for reasons and ask why. I read editorial columns seeking rational and logical explanations for our separations. I listen to the talking heads for inklings of sanity, never satisfied with the answers. The answer might not be in reason, or in statistics, or in rationality, or in logic. The Bishop would tell me I’m asking the wrong questions.

The Primate asked the right question and answered it when he challenged us to imagine governments and nations where love is the way? When love is the way, would a child go to bed hungry anywhere in this world, again? If love were the way, would we have the school shootings? If love were the way, would we have homelessness? When love is the way, “we will let justice roll down like a mighty stream and righteousness like an ever-flowing brook,”[iii] he told us.

The questions are easy and the answer, it seems, is easy to imagine, if you let it be. Why do nations fight one another? Why does talk-radio and TV ferment hate? Why do congressional leaders seek to ensure that the other party loses on every score rather than fight for the common good? When did disagreement become the basis for dislike and hatred? When did other ideas become the enemy? When did we become this way?

What’s love got to do with it?

Evidently, everything!

---

[i] Bishop Curry sermon at wedding of Prince Harry and Megan xxx

[ii] Terry Britten & Graham Lyle – What’s Love Got to Do with It? – Recorded by Tina Turna, May 1, 1984

[iii] Amos 5:24

We Have A New Friend

Her real name is Dot, but she only answers to Alexa. I’m not accustomed to two adult women living in the house at the same time.

She is agreeable enough, I suppose. She sits in the kitchen all day and speaks only when spoken to. At breakfast this morning I asked her to play Chopin, quietly, and within a second she conjured up some beautiful piano music.

“Alexa, call Margo's mobile phone”, and the phone rings immediately. “Alexa, add some shampoo to my shopping list.” Done! “Alexa, place the Amazon order.” Done! It’s unnerving on the one hand, but nice on the other; she listens to me and does what I tell her to do. That’s new!

Dot came into our lives after my grandson and his wife’s recent wedding. I met Dot two years ago, but never even thought that she might live with us. She had the features of a hockey puck and just didn’t seem very sophisticated, or useful for that matter. Who knew?  

Steve Jobs was fond of saying that Apple’s success, at least in part, was its ability to develop products you didn’t know you needed, until you had them. Well, Jeff Bezo took a lesson from Jobs. Amazon introduced us to Echo-Dot in 2016. As I said, we didn’t know we needed Dot until she moved in. After only a couple of weeks, it’s hard to imagine living without her. You’ll see!

Who has the time to get up out of a chair to turn on the radio? Who has a radio anymore? I don’t need my phone to play music on Pandora anymore. I don’t have to search for a weather forecast anymore. “Alexa, what is the score of the Giants game? Alexa, multiply 273 times 97. What is the square root of 438?” Who needs a calculator anymore? “Alexa, add peanut butter to the grocery list.” Who needs paper? The grocery list is right on your phone when you get to the supermarket. If you use the appropriate app, it tells you in which aisle and on which shelf to find the item.

“They” tell us that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is coming soon. It’s here already, and Dot is the latest example. I read one article that suggested we have three or four Dots in the house so that we don’t have to raise our voice when we speak to Alexa. If you have a smart TV, you can sync it with Dot, then you don’t have to fiddle with the remote control any more: “Alexa, turn on the 5:30 news on NBC.” You don’t even have to say please.

I’m not the early adopter that I once was, so I’m late to the Echo/Dot phenom. Last Christmas season it was among the largest selling products at Amazon, from among millions of items. Estimates are that about eight million Echoes dot US homes across the country. During last year’s Amazon’s Prime Day, they were selling at a rate of about 1,000 per minute. Why didn’t I have one of these technological marvels last year or the year before? I didn’t know I needed one!

If you think you don’t need Dot, run to the store and buy her today. The grand-kids will help you set it up.

I Was Hungry and . . .

Mary Harkin eases out of bed at 6:00 am. After a quick breakfast, she points her car toward the parish church. She and her fellow volunteers drink their coffee, catch up on town gossip, and then set to work. It takes a couple of hours to sort the donated food at the church food pantry. Drivers arrive with day-old bread from the supermarkets, farmers bring in bins of fresh fruits and vegetables, and a volunteer driver brings staples from the county food bank they will need to fill the two hundred grocery bags. At 9:00 am sharp, the pastor welcomes those who have stood in line for an hour or more to get food to feed their family.

Ward Joad is in his morning routine, up at 6:15 am, showered and dressed. A quick look around the kitchen leads to the obvious conclusion: there is no food for breakfast for him and his sister, again. They will eat at school today. Ward and third-grader Jolene will join the million kids who qualify for a free breakfast and lunch at school today. Spring break starts next Monday. That means they will eat lunch at the library next week. There never seems to be enough food at home.

Ward’s parents, Juanita and Harry, both work at the local factory, at minimum wage. Their joint income qualifies them for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP/food stamps) just like 15% of all American families. The extra money helps, but it still does not cover all their expenses: rent, gas for the car, clothes for the kids and the occasional movie night out. Juanita’s average cost to feed the family of four is $216 per week.  

The Joads live in a run-down neighborhood because that is all they can afford. Ward is not happy about the 14-block walk to the nearest supermarket. He walks past many small corner stores on the way, but they are too expensive, the food is not always fresh, and they cater mostly to people picking up liquor or cigarettes. Then, there is the 14-block walk back home. Ward knows that being poor does not leave many options.

Mary Harkin is well situated: nice home, money in the bank, newer car, and many friends. She is active in town and at her church. She has lived a good and lucky life. The food pantry provides an opportunity to give back. She does not make much of a fuss about it, but she is one of hundreds of thousands of people across the country that do what they can to help those less fortunate. Some of her friends volunteer at local feeding centers, at shelters like the Salvation Army, deliver food to shut-ins with Meals on Wheels, or as Navigators on the streets, serving the homeless.

In nearby Sacramento, 30,000 people, including Mary and several friends, participated in the Run4Hunger last Thanksgiving. They raised nearly one million dollars for the local food bank. Nearly 1,000 volunteers per month help serve 650-800 daily meals at Loaves and Fishes. Churches, mosques, and temples marshal hundreds of people a week to staff food pantries and clothes closets for those in need.

Harry Joad could not make it to the food pantry before it closed on Friday, because he had to work overtime, something you do not turn down. The extra money helps with the weekly budget. He wishes he did not have to make those kinds of decisions on a daily basis: buy gas to get to work or pay the electric bill, take his daughter to the doctor, or pay the rent; none of his choices is easy.

Mary Harkin, ever the quiet activist, cannot get her arms around the whole hunger story. We have an abundance of food, yet thirty million children receive free school lunches, 15 million children eat breakfast at school, and 3 million children participate in the summer food service program.[i] The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, food stamps), serves one in seven households.

Mary Harkin wonders why, in spite of the need, the government intends to cut billions of dollars from national food programs, upwards of 30%. In hundreds of counties across the country, nearly 24% of families are food insecure. One county in Mississippi has 38% of its population short of funds to buy food.

On Tuesdays, Mary and her friend Betty deliver food to homebound seniors, mostly women living alone, who have too little income; their average social security benefits are $1,231 per month before deductions for Medicare Parts A, B, and D.[ii]She and Betty are among the millions of volunteers who deliver more than two million meals each week to those in need.[iii] Individuals fighting hunger in America is a story that needs telling.

One chapter might focus on the underlying causes of poverty and efforts to eliminate it. It would lobby for systemic change in our economic priorities; good schools with life-choice options; good paying jobs; end of racism; good health care, and a continuing robust economy. This effort will require a long-term commitment by governments at all levels. It will fail with a 30% budget cut.

A collection of pictures showing what hunger looks like in America might be interspersed throughout the book. Remember the pictures from the Great Depression? They showed despair, long lines at the soup kitchens, and families with emaciated children. Is that the picture of Ward Joad and millions like him that we want people to remember about our country? Mary Harkin certainly doesn’t.

Without question, the story has to tell about the hundreds of thousands of individuals who volunteer each day. No part of the country is immune from hunger. No part of the country, however, is without its volunteers who try to stem the hunger pangs of the nation. Imagine if you can, thousands of people in every county in every state deciding to stay home one day instead of volunteering. For Ward Joad’s sake, let’s hope that never happens.

---

[i] USDA  - Economic Research Services - 2018

[ii]The Motley Fool -8/30/2017

[iii]Meals on Wheels America web site - 2018