There is terror all around. Violence and destruction, too. Telling the truth about that condition of the world, however, has always been unpopular. Jeremiah experienced rejection. Even more, Jesus was killed.

And Jesus calls us to follow him, to be countercultural like Jeremiah, to value the gospel of Jesus Christ even more than what the world counts as family values, to tell the truth openly about human sin and God’s mercy.

It will not be easy. Still, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection and our baptism into him, we can live a new life, unafraid of death. We can trust we are seen and cared for, even in this time, as surely as God sees the sparrow. And we can tell others of this care, by our words and by our lives.