Some Thoughts on The Media

So it Might Be a Big Mistake to Write about The Media in These Supercharged Times

Brad Pitt as Dr. Fauci

But Right Now I Find Myself Feeling the Need to Know More Acutely

I Am Allergic to Politics and the Media

You should know this before I get started. I tend to be allergic to politics and what I’m calling, The Media. Part of it is all the drama, (rolls eyes). Part of it is that I often feel manipulated in these arenas. I have a tendency to believe that I’m not getting quality info, and that makes it hard to make good decisions. So I break out in a metaphysical rash and avoid both of them as much as possible. Don’t get me wrong, I vote. I read. I participate in our democracy, but ewwww.

So despite my allergy, I find myself consuming more of The Media’s output in these corona-times. Try as I might, I can’t avoid the sound of the president’s voice as he holds his daily briefings. I can’t not see the headlines making fun of him for what he says or doesn’t. And there are the daily zillion hot takes and insta-punditry happening 24/7. But I tune in anyway, because I still have a need to know.  

What’s That Sound?

It’s a low moaning sound. I hear a lot of moaning in and via The Media. Politicians moan that The Media is against them. And it seems to me that each generation of politician thinks that The Media is out to get them and that this is new and that no other generation of politicians has had to deal with this level of nastiness. And The Media itself seems to have taken on some whine-y tones too. There’s much complaining going back and forth, and maybe some people love it. It punches up the show with drama, right?! Ugh, I’m starting to feel itchy again. 

This is not a new problem. When liberals are in charge, they complain of vast right wing conspiracies. When conservatives are in charge they complain that the liberal media is out to get them. Certainly the complaining about The Media has been a consistent song that’s been sung for at least a couple of generations.

Antagonism On Purpose

Perhaps this is by design— not the whining and complaining, but the antagonism. Isn’t it the purpose of The Media to challenge government? We sometimes refer to The Media as the fourth estate. And it seems to me, that a free press in a democracy is meant to be a kind of buffer between the power and the person. It’s meant to be a defense from an overbearing government’s trespass into the domains of families and individuals. It’s meant to be a shield. We said no to King George. We designed a government with separated powers (legislative, judicial, and executive), with checks and balances on purpose. And this purpose was to do our best to protect people from the abuse of power. In the same way, a fourth estate is meant to preserve the sanctity of family and person. 

So does this mean things are right after all? Could this be the way it is supposed to be? As I see it, a free press is meant to serve by informing the public and by challenging government and governors. But I am uneasy. Have we lost a free press? I’m not saying that the government is controlling media as happens in China. But something has happened.  

CNN Happened

A claim can be made that this is all CNN’s fault. And I mean to be a bit cheeky, but I don’t mean to say that this is a left or a liberal problem. If Fox had been first, we’d have the same issue. The dawn of the cable era witnessed the birth of the 24 hour news cycle. We connected the cables to our TVs and we accelerated the creation of the news as an industry. We’ve chosen an industry instead of an estate. Maybe because ESPN and HGTV were bundled, we just couldn’t resist.

The Paper Didn’t Happen

Well, I guess I really blame the death of the paper. People don’t read anymore. (Not true, but true-ish, right?) I suppose printed news was already pressured by televised news, but they seemed to coexist. We all watched it on TV, and then read about it the next morning. This seemed to work. Televised immediacy brought us the happening. Printed analysis brought the why and how of it. And then the internet. Here’s a graph of what happened next:

Newspaper Revenue 1980-2020

A totally made up and non scientific graph that is somehow still true. It may also be true-ish for Walkman purchases, AOL users, and Beanie Baby Collecters…

Clicks and Likes Happened

In an effort to survive the revenue-carnage created by the internet, print media and journalism had to change. This further accelerated the shift from estate to industry. And this new industry was based on clicks and likes. All of us got to vote on what we wanted to see, hear, and read. I don’t have time to go into it, but in my mind Facebook is a nearly criminal enterprise. (I guess google that—or better yet, DuckDuckGo.com it, because they won’t track you). Facebook’s quest for engagement created algorithms that amplified news as industry... For more, you gotta read my man Ben Thomson at Stratechery. 

Op/Ed Punditry Sound Bites

It seems that we now have an industry that I’m calling The Media. It is tuned to create op/ed punditry sound bites and little else. Maybe that’s an overly harsh criticism of the state of things, I don’t know. I’m saying this as an observer and as a user. I think we are missing something. We deserve more than this, and we’ve got to find a way forward. Lord help us pivot towards a journalism that functions like an estate.

Nicodemus

Tonight Our Small Group Will Study the Story of When Nicodemus Came to Jesus at Night

What was it like walking home that night? Photo by Zekeriya Sen via Unsplash

So I thought I’d spend a minute this morning and find out what I can about this guy.

I grabbed my trusty but dusty Bible dictionary and looked him up. Here’s what I found. Nicodemus was a Pharisee. We hear a lot about the Pharisees in the Gospels, but apparently there were not that many of them. They were super religious and they carefully followed the Law of Moses and the traditions of the elders. These guys were rule followers. And they had a lot of rules to follow—like six hundred plus. People looked at these guys as spiritual. They had influence. Jesus didn’t have a lot of patience for them, and he reserved his harshest criticisms for them. (See Matthew 23. He calls them “whitewashed tombs” and a “brood of vipers” — yikes!)

Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin which was a ruling council. I’m not super sure about how this council interacted with the Romans, but it seems at the time of Christ that the Sanhedrin had broad authority and power. It was these guys that were most threatened by Jesus’ teachings. These are the ones that conspired with Judas to have Jesus killed.

So Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night. That little detail about the time seems important. It’s likely that Nicodemus didn’t want to be seen with Jesus. Maybe he’d be judged by his buddies at all the Pharisee parties, I don’t know. But he does seem sincere. He says it’s clear that Jesus has come from God. I imagine he had many questions. I imagine he was intrigued by the teaching and the signs and wonders. Perhaps he was trying to figure this Jesus-guy out.

Jesus has some compassion for Nicodemus. Although he is firm with him, and has a high expectation of him, Jesus still instructs him. In fact, he gives an incredibly straightforward message of the Gospel in vv. 13-18, including the most famous verse of all, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

We don’t really know if Nicodemus gets it. I wonder what he was thinking as he made his way back home that night. When he looked up at the stars, was he convinced that Jesus was the Son of Man and the way forward?

John gives record of Nicodemus two more times in his biography of Jesus. In John 7, he defends Jesus saying that the leaders should not condemn him before giving him a hearing. And in John 19, he gives a generous gift of spices to anoint Jesus’ body.

* * * * * * *

God is using this story to encourage me and warn me. I am encouraged that even leading scholars didn’t fully understand what Jesus was doing. I am encouraged that Jesus took the time to meet with Nicodemus and show him the truth. I am warned too. It seems Nicodemus was incapable of getting it. He was interested enough to seek more information, but it is unlikely he was ever one of the disciples. Perhaps his knowledge about God prevented him from actually knowing God. I don’t want to just be intrigued by Jesus. I don’t want merely some more understanding. I have a need to know him. I need to follow him. I need to believe him.

Learning from Job in These Times

Greg Boyd’s Article, “The Point of the Book of Job” Is Fantastic and It Is Helping Me Parse this Moment

Photo Credit: Mwangi Gatheca via Unsplash

I want to tell the suffering that everything is going to be okay, but sometimes those words can ring hollow in the face of tragedy.

I think God gave us the book of Job to help us through hard times. He gave it to correct our thinking about suffering and about him. When Job goes through all his suffering, his friends keep telling him it’s going to be okay:

“In famine, he’ll keep you from starving,
in war, from being gutted by the sword.
You’ll be protected from vicious gossip
and live fearless through any catastrophe.”

— Job 5:20 (The Message)

But this is wishful thinking and these words are misguided. Boyd writes:

As cliché assurances often are, these words are self-serving and wounding. Promising a father who just lost all his children (Job 1:18-19) that if he will only get right with God his “tent” will be safe, his children will not be missing and his offspring will be like “the grass of the earth” is not just hollow: it is positively cruel. It is what Job’s friends want to believe, for they want assurance that what happened to Job can’t happen to them. But their wish-based theology is out of sync with reality and completely unhelpful to their suffering friend.

Of course, Jobs’ friends’ words aren’t all incorrect. There is some truth to them. God is a provider and protector. The problem though is that they’re assuming that Job has done something wrong, and that he’s got to get right before God will bless him again. And I am convicted by this: I too want assurances that something like this won’t happen to me. I want COVID assurance for me and for mine. I want to think if I’m good I’ll be safe. Yet, sometimes we’ve done nothing wrong and still there is difficulty, suffering, even disaster. Bad things can happen to good people.

The truth is we are all ignorant of the chaos and the order around us. We’re often ignorant of God’s continuous action and presence. Sure he gives us glimpses. He speaks and he guides us through. But we can’t say that we know “the ordinances of the heavens…”, (Job 38:33), or that we “comprehend the expanse of the earth”, (38:16). We can’t say that we, “can draw out Leviathan” (41:1). We are unaware of the forces of evil swirling around us. Yet God knows, and continuously contends with it.

Even though what happens in our lives will likely remain mysterious and unknowable, God himself, his will and his character are known. He’s revealing himself to us daily. Even in the face of difficulty or suffering, we can know that God is good. Job didn’t have complete right thinking or perfect theology, but to his credit, he clung to the truth of God’s character. And so, instead of saying to myself and to others who are struggling, “It’s gonnu be okay”, I think I’ll say, “No matter what, God is good. He loves us, and we can trust him.”

Memory Lane

How we remember shapes who we become.

Photo Album by Laura Fuhrman via Unsplash

I believe there’s a link between our memories and our discipleship.

God tells us to remember. This is important because we all know what happens to God’s people when they forget— losing the way, slavery, exile, etc… We all know what happens to us when we forget—pretty much the same, am I right?! But as I meditate on this, I think God is asking us to do more than simply scroll through the photo albums of our memory.

“Remember the wonderful things He has done,
    His miracles and the wise decisions He has made…”

— Psalm 105:5 (VOICE)

I feel like Holy Spirit is emphasizing the “…He has done” phrase. Recounting what happened isn’t what God is asking of us. He’s asking to remember what he has done. This subtly shifts the perspective, doesn’t it? If I simply just rehearse the sequence of events, I’ll only remember what happened. But if I remember what He has done, I get a new perspective on my own history. I can look back and see His actions in my story. I can see His hand at work. I can recall Holy Spirit’s comfort in even through the most difficult times. 

The Fruit of Memory: Gratitude and Faith

Remembering what He has done produces fruit: thankfulness and faith. First, when I recall how God showed up, I can’t help but feel grateful. And I believe that gratitude is the chemotherapy for the cancer of my entitlement. God knows I need to be grateful in order to be healthy. So he instructs me to remember. Second, when I see what God has already done in my life, it gives me faith for what I am facing now. There’s a reason that the “Do it again” song is so popular and so anointed. Looking back at the actions of God in my past give me faith for the actions of God in my present, and hope for the future. Even in a pandemic. 

Doorknob Decisions

Not Long Ago, I Was Walking Down the Hallway of a Fancy Hotel.

Do Not Disturb by Visuals via Unsplash

I was feeling pretty good about myself and how life was treating me.

As I passed each door, I noticed the signs hanging from some of the doorknobs. Some displayed “Maid Service Please.” Other door signs said, “Do Not Disturb.”

Later in the day, God spoke to me. He said,  “On a regular basis, when you want me to clean up your mess, you hang the 'Maid Service' sign on the door of your heart. This is an entitlement because you have no intention of cleaning up yourself. You expect my service immediately and without question.” I was shocked. I started to argue. But before I could get defensive, I heard Him say, “You just as quickly flip the sign over to “Do Not Disturb”, as if you don’t want me to bother you. It makes me very sad when you do this to me.”

I couldn’t speak. His words penetrated my heart and challenged me to take a good long look at my attitude towards God and the entitlements I walked in. 

After I deeply repented, I started to evaluate how I interacted with others in regards to this sign. Did I really, expect others to “Do Not Disturb” me? Did I really want others to pick up after my messes? Am I really entitled? The answer sadly was a resounding, yes!

My heart still feels the weight of that sin, even as I’m reminded of that day, from time to time. I have made a conscious effort to not swivel this sign towards God and others who attempt to connect with me. Who do I think I am? Where did such arrogance and pride waltz into my heart? The answer is, daily, I make a choice to either walk in pride or in humility. I either choose to serve others or be served. I’m still a work in progress and thankfully, God isn’t finished with me yet, and thankfully, my family hasn’t disowned me. But I’m regularly aware that I have a doorknob on my heart waiting for a sign to hang on it. I get to choose to not hang entitlement, on the doorknob of my heart. Today, I’m going to hang a sign that says, “Welcome, how can I serve you?”

A Guide Is Better Than a Compass

My Dear Friend John Skelly Responded to Last Fridays Post with An Even Better Concept

Photo by Derek Thomson via Unsplash

John wrote, “Just was inspired by your blog. love your take on how God is leading you and am challenged to let God lead me in the same ways. I am glad I have a Guide... it's even better than a compass...”

I was blown away. John has regularly given such clear pictures of the character of God, both in his life and also in his words. I wrote John back and asked him for more. He’s graciously allowing me to post his thoughts here:

I am pondering direction. I am of a generation that learned to fold maps correctly. Rand McNally was a friend on all trips. Still for all the study of routes and alternatives, the memorization of all the United States capitols, I remain directionally challenged. The compass held great promise. The problem is that I am convinced that whatever direction I am facing is north. That is challenging. And that is why if my wife and I ever participate on The Amazing Race she will handle the maps, I will accept the directions.

I think that is why I despise GPS too. It is pushy. It barks directions at me. It demands that I do what it tells me to do. My wife on the other hand is much gentler and allows me a U turn or two.

No compass? No GPS? So how do I get to where I am going? I need a guide.I prefer someone who has been there before and knows the way.

Jesus had a direction discussion with his friends in John 14. They were worried about direction too. Apparently, they didn’t know where they were headed. Thomas just blurted out, “How can we know the way?” Jesus tells them, “I am the way. The Truth, and the Life”( John 14:6)

Jesus doesn’t give maps or bark out instructions. He gives us Himself. Jesus is our guide. He is the Way. We can trust and follow him.

When my path is obscured, no compass, map or GPS will get me to where I am going.

It reminds me of the poem: The Gate of the Year: It resonates with me regarding direction and the unknown:

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“

Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”


And he replied:


“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.


That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

The hand of God. Better than a compass. Better than a GPS.

Zooooooom!

We’re meeting as a staff on Zoom these days and my screen looks like this

Thank goodness there’s a “Stop Video” button because the combination of about a liter of coffee and about three and a half hours of zoom meetings is wreaking havoc on my bladder.

A few weeks ago this was surreal, now it’s starting to feel like the new normal. (Does that make Zoom the new black?) Of course, the larger meetings feel like I’m watching some weird version of the Brady Bunch. But I’m starting to get into the smaller ones. It is amazing to interact and even do some work. I’ve got weekly staff meetings, two weekly regional meetings, and a meeting that I’m administrating. On top of that we’re Zoom-ing with our small group on Sunday nights. Even though it’s choppy and stilted, and even though we tend to talk over each other accidentally, it is a measure of connection, and I’m grateful for it.

Having said that, yesterday I saw a friend! We talked for twenty minutes from a proper social distance (well it was more like 15 feet, so at least 2 times proper social distance). It was startlingly refreshing to have a real, live, face-to-face interaction. (Or should I say, mask-to-mask?!). There was no lag. The visuals didn’t get choppy, and the audio didn’t get garbled. It was beyond high definition and I think there’s something about proximity that makes a difference. Maybe it’s spiritual. Maybe it’s something having to do with all the nonverbal communication that’s happening, I don’t know. But with means something to me.

And this makes me grateful for those I am able to be with right now.