I talk to my mom everyday, usually on my way home from work. Sometimes I call in the morning, just to break the routine, but usually, we touch base just before dinner. So she asks – what are you having for dinner – and usually, I haven’t thought much beyond pulling in the driveway and taking off my shoes.
In these daily conversations, she keeps me alerted to what’s happening with the family, the residents in her building complex, and, once a week, her bingo wins and losses.
Since we talk everyday, I don’t always have anything sensational to report. You know, I went to the office, a couple of meetings, did some writing, taught a class, still finishing yesterday’s projects…reading a book. Apparently, my cousin, who checks in on my mom regularly is about as talkative as I am, so mom has decided that no news is good news.
Generally, I like to keep it that way, except the more attentive I am to the media reports, the more it seems this is a true, but not so positive, statement.
I watch what U.S. news commentators promote as noteworthy around the world: unrest in the Persian Gulf area; allegations of sexual assault against high-ranking officials; wars, and rumors of wars; famine, flood, and earthquakes; economic collapse, social unrest, adverse employment practices; mistreatment of the elderly; incest, bribery, and forced labor; disease, divorce, and domestic violence; increased child sacrifice, adultery, and multiple sex partners.
(I have to resist the idea that someone has hacked into the CNN tele-prompters and uploaded texts from the prophets of Ancient Israel just prior to the Babylonian exile!)
Then, as now: National politics advances as the worship of the Trinitarian God recedes. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the people of God — look just like everybody else. There’s nothing new I guess. And that’s not really good news.
An ancient word records:
9 Whatever has happened— that’s what will happen again; whatever has occurred— that’s what will occur again.
There’s nothing new under the sun. 10 People may say about something: “Look at this! It’s new!” But it was already around for ages before us. 11 There’s no remembrance of things in the past, nor of things to come in the future. Neither will there be any remembrance among those who come along in the future.
(Ecclesiastes 1: 9-11, Common English Bible)
The News might not be so good. Except maybe a random moment of goodness that slips in between sensational reporting. But that’s nothing new. For now, I am interested in how our culture receives the Christian voice as well as how the Church speaks that witness in the world. Our task these days might not be any different than the first followers of Jesus. That is, to draw attention to what is good, just as a witness to the world that God is still present and peace is still possible.
Such a glimpse might be good news for someone who feels stuck in yesterday’s old news.
(originally posted on joyseroom 14 March 2012)