Recents events in our country and the increasing ridiculousness in social media and mass media has convinced me it‘s time for americans to break away and take a fast…a fast from the pablum served up as news…a fast from vitriolic posts about issues we neither really care about or are involved in.
Call it the coming of old age, or call it wisdom or foolishness… but i am convinced our current era is the age of silliness disguised as seriousness..
We criticize a football player for using his bully pulpit to make a stand for something he supposedly believes strongly in, but we are unwilling to actually listen to his pleas and his protests…
We burn our shoes and tshirts emblazoned with the emblem of capitalism and call it a counter protest… and with great smugness post it on social media to show our colors…
We torch “friends” on Facebook for posting something we dont agree with (but have never really thought deeply about)
We listen to the incessant chatter of talking heads who blather on about things meant only to incite and never consider the fact that these heads are living in extreme comfort far removed from the battlefield and the arena. they pander to our insatiable desire to be disturbed and upset.
God calls us to be peacemakers….to walk beside the quiet waters…to remove ourselves from the crowds at times so we can readjust, reconfigure and refresh our souls. And this will never be accomplished as long as we pander to the noise of talk radio, tv talk shows and the blather of the news media (on both sides!!)
We are called to make a difference, to enter the fray of this world, not with fists clenched, and vitriole spilling from our tongues…but to bring shalom to a world that has none. We are called to bring calm when there is a storm, and we are ultimately called to bring good news when all we hear is bad news.
About two years ago i stopped watching the news, the weather reports and talk radio. It was an experiment in soul work that continues…
Life is too darn short to spend it throwing mud at the other side. And it quite honestly adds nothing to the life we live.
So I say its time for people of faith to take a fast…from the hatred , misalignment and deceptions that are being foisted on us from all sides. It drowns out the words and works of Jesus who came to bring peace to a world that is sadly missing out.
