Good News
Series Intro
We are constantly inundated with bad news. And just in case you’re not certain that’s true, let me go over just a few headlines from the past week…and these are just a few.
Ebola, terror attack in Paris, four men shot to death in San Francisco, 170 vehicle pile-up on a major highway, murder/suicide at a school in Jacksonville, latest Boko Haram kills in Nigeria too many to count, father tosses daughter from bridge
And remember, this is just a sample. Some of this news was in your email inbox...or popping up on your smartphone…perfect with your morning coffee. Some of this was on the radio during your commute. Some of this stared you in the face from the covers of magazines at the newsstand. Some you heard over supper while CNN or Fox news was playing on the TV.
Bad news. Seems like all major news is bad news, doesn’t it? The old saying goes, “If it bleeds, it leads.” It seems to be true. And we’re fascinated with bad news…that’s why it’s featured. The news outlets are money-making ventures, and they can only feature what sells. And the tragic truth is that bad news sells. Human beings seem to have an unhealthy fascination with the macabre.
Add to this fascination the fact that any serious examination of any of these events is simply not possible in the length of time the media devotes to these stories. Pew Research says that the median length of a local TV news story & video is 41 seconds. That’s right…41 seconds. The median length of a network TV news package is 2 minutes 23 seconds. Yes…the entire package…all the news worth knowing on the subject…graphics, videos, and talking heads…all in 2 minutes 23 seconds. And the median length of the most popular news clips on Youtube is…get this…sixty seconds.
It’s not enough information to allow you to form an educated opinion on the subject. It’s not enough information for you to decide on what action, if any, you should take. It’s just enough information to grab your attention…just enough to be unhealthy. Yes…it’s unhealthy…because it’s just enough information to cause increased stress & anxiety, but not enough for you to know what to do with the increased stress & anxiety. In fact, research demonstrates that people exposed to repeated media reports of traumatic events often experience more acute stress symptoms than those exposed to the actual events.
Little, if any, of the “news” you were exposed to last week was actually helpful to you. I’d hazard a guess that all it accomplished was to add to the stress & anxiety produced by the newsreel of your own life. You know, the one in which the headlines declare, “Job on the Line”. Or, “Still Jobless”. You know, when the news anchor in your head solemnly intones, “Marriage In Trouble” & “Kids Are a Mess”. Or, when the merry band of incredibly stylish and beautiful talking heads sit around bandying glib soundbytes about your car needing unaffordable repairs, or you not being able to pay the bills, or afford insurance.
Each of us has enough of our own bad news to never need to hear the bad news of the world ever again.
Then some people go to church and hear about how horrible gay marriage is, and how we need to stand against the homosexual lobby, and how Islam is the religion of the antichrist, and how government is out to destroy the liberty of Christians, and how the seals in the book of Revelation are being opened, and how we’re all going to be forced to be microchipped…and that’s the mark of the beast…and how everything is generally going to hell in a handbasket…the family, morals, society, the country, western civilization, and the barbarians are at the gates.
It’s not that all this bad news is untrue…it’s just that’s it’s everywhere. It may all be factually true indeed…it’s just that it’s so pervasive. There’s no escaping it. What’s worse, there seems to be no avoiding the gloom that it brings to your mind & spirit. There seems to be no way to free yourself from the undercurrent of hopelessness and frustration that it generates.
Maybe if you had a little breathing space, a bit of respite from time to time, it would be better. But you don’t. Your life is exhausting. Between job, spouse, kids, school, activities, & appointments, you simply don’t have any time to recoup. So, the stress & anxiety of bad news is coupled to your own physical & emotional exhaustion…and the effect is compounded.
Maybe if you were just a little stronger spiritually…maybe if your Christian walk was a little more dynamic and life-giving…but it’s not. Prayer? What’s that? You’re so spent you can barely say grace over meals. You have a hard time finding time to speed read a few verses of Psalms, let alone engage in personal study of the Bible. And you’re aware of your spiritual inadequacy. You’re aware of it in the way your mind works, your real values, your deepest emotions…and most intensely, in your failings.
I know it’s true. You rarely tell me about it, but I know it’s true. I see it on your faces each Sunday…the effects of life’s constant stream of bad news, of your own exhaustion, and your personal spiritual inadequacy. You dress up well. You look nice. You smile pretty. And for the few seconds that we interact as we shake hands, exchange pleasantries, and you head out the door back into the world of bad news, you think you’ve masked it pretty well. But you’re forgetting that I stand up here and look out at you, and I see the mask occasionally slip…and in those unguarded moments, I know.
Look, I don’t want to sound schmaltzy or cheaply sentimental…and I think you know by now that soppy emotionalism just isn’t my style…but at risk of sounding tacky and overly sensitive, I’ve got to say that I ache for you. I worry about you. You dominate my thoughts. And I suppose that’s natural, because you’re my charge, the little flock of which God has made me overseer. So when I see your sorrow, your despair, your weariness, I’m troubled. When you’re not here, I’m concerned. When you’re drifting, I’m worried.
While sipping my morning coffee, I’ll ponder, “What can help?” While driving here and there, I’ll ask, “Father, what can I say, what should I say, that will make a difference?” While reading & studying, I’ll drift off, contemplating the possibility of an activity or gathering may bring you comfort, and strength, and respite.
So, here in these early days of 2015, I think it’s time you heard a little good news. You need to know that there is hope…that there still good possibilities. You need to know that good choices are still available, and that a good life is still livable…in spite of the darkness, the corruption, the violence, the despair, and the spiritual rootlessness of society.
You need to know that you are still Christ’s. You need to know that in spite of your frantic running here and there, so busy that you often lose touch with Him, that He knows where you are. You need to know that in spite of your inadequacies and failings that His love is yours, and that His eye is on you for your good.
Yes, you need some good news…but not soundbytes, not sixty second video exposes. You need good news you can chew on. You need good news that can fill your heart and mind. You need good news that can change the way you think, the way you feel, and therefore, the way you live. You need good news that gives you a different outlook, a lasting outlook. You need good news that lasts longer than a news cycle, longer than a Sunday service, longer than a weekend. You need good news that lasts a lifetime.
And with the help of God that’s what we’re going to be talking to you about for a while as we start out this New Year here at The Refuge; Good News. You’re going to learn over the next few weeks that the Bible is full of good news…full of life-changing, life-giving, life-lasting good news. And this good news can make all difference in your life, if you’ll just receive it.
So over the course of the next weeks I urge you to pay less attention to the bad news in your inbox, or that streams to your phone. During your commute, turn off the radio and listen to something else…maybe a little music, or an audio book, or even the Bible. Try going a few weeks without CNN or Fox news filling your mind with all that’s wrong in the world. Take a little bad-news hiatus. Believe me, all that’s wrong with the world will still be there when your break is through. During this time allow the good news you hear on Sunday to saturate your mind and spirit during the week. And see if this change doesn’t seem…better.
I close now with this reading from Isaiah 40:1-10…
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.
A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
A voice says, "Cry!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"
Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
The Word of the Lord. And let all the people say, “Amen!”
