I don’t know how I became a “news junkie,” but I suppose it was the same way that anyone becomes addicted to anything: I got a taste of something that made me feel good and informed and excited (and smugly superior), and so I gradually needed more and more of it to satiate my desire, and before I knew it I would go into withdrawal unless I got my daily dosage.
The problem for many of us who grew up with the seemingly limited selection of only 3 news channels (CBS, ABC, NBC) is the overwhelming choice, the sheer volume of information coming at us, in amounts that our brains may not be designed to absorb. Naval Ravikant, American entrepreneur and investor warns, “The human brain is not designed to absorb all the world’s breaking news, 24/7 emergencies injected straight into your skull with clickbait headline news. If you pay attention to that stuff, even if you’re well-meaning, even if you’re of sound mind and body, it will eventually drive you insane.”
The renowned theologian Karl Barth said that pastors should “Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.”
I think some of us do quite the opposite and “interpret the Bible from our newspapers.” I wonder what Barth would have made of our endless 24/7 news cycle, clamoring for attention with seductive clickbait. I wonder what he would’ve said about my reaching for my phone and NY Times updates, before I reached for my Book of Common Prayer and before doing my morning prayers. It seems that we (I) have put the cart before the horse.
How can we see Louisiana’s recent law requiring that the Ten Commandments be displayed in public schools through the lens of scripture? What does the Bible have to say about Oklahoma‘s new law requiring the Bible to be taught in public schools? And does the Bible have anything to say about the Presidential debates?
One of the most dangerous phrases in history is “The Bible is clear..” and so I’m certainly not going to proscribe specific biblical passages that speak to our current political landscape.
But what I will invite us to do, is before we gorge ourselves on the non-stop toxic smorgasbord that is the news, we spend some time with scripture and in prayer and meditation.
Our Old Testament lectionary reading this week could be a good start:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)
As Episcopalians, we are called, commanded even, every week to “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord” and our ecstatic response is “Thanks be to God. Alleluia! Alleluia!”
With God as our guide, with love as our song, the news of the world is an opportunity for us to serve. And I think then we can heed Barth’s call and actually change the world through a Christocentric lens. And what could that change look like for us? For the world?