CHICAGO, IL (March 20, 2015) — Many Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos with one another that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement by the Covenant of any views expressed.

Singleness in Church
This is must-read story for the church. The author laments, “After interacting with the church, many singles start to wonder: Is there something wrong with me? Is God working in my life? Am I as valuable (to God, to the church) as married people? Does God love me as much as he loves married people?”

But blogger Christena Cleveland goes beyond lament to offer important suggestions here. This post is the latest in a series she has titled “Beyond Multiethnic.”

Starbucks’ ‘Race Together’ Campaign Gets Bitter Reaction
This week Starbucks began encouraging its baristas to write “Race Together” on its cups, as an invitation to customers to talk about issues of racial justice. As Adweek put it, “Somehow, the clumsy nature of reducing a serious, impossibly complex national conversation to a hashtag on a coffee cup has united Twitter users of all races in roundly denouncing the attempt.” Newscaster Gwen Ifill tweeted, “Honest to God, if you start to engage me in a race conversation before I’ve had my morning coffee, it will not end well.” A woman named April tweeted, “Not sure what @Starbucks was thinking. I don’t have time to explain 400 years of oppression to you & still make my train.”

St. Valentine

Man Reunited with Wallet after 65 Years
This story is encouraging for those of us who lose things on a regular basis. It’s also my gift to preachers looking for illustrations when preaching on the lost coin, lost sheep, etc. For those of you who follow the lectionary, save this for Lent 2017.

Robot Petting Zoo—Where You Can Tell Your Secrets
It may initially sound like a humor story, but this one illustrates just how much people feel the need to talk to someone—or something. The designer recently linked up with a nonprofit to make the robot available to listen to survivors of disasters.

Which Saint Are You?
I normally don’t look at these sorts of things, but this is a fun read, which is why it’s getting a lot of attention. I am such a St. Valentine. I was thinking deeply about what that means for my life when…Look! Squirrel!