Too Much News?

The impossible seems to have occurred these last couple of weeks.  The constant stream of news to which we have grown accustomed these past three years has turned into a raging river.  It has been, to borrow a phrase, like drinking water from a fire hose.  Alerts are constantly popping up on my phone, the headline story on the NY Times web site is essentially a rolling update of the latest thing to happen, and it's all getting to be too much - and I'm a news junkie.

We'd do fine with less news, I believe.  People made it though the Second World War with a newspaper a day, and maybe an evening radio report.  But maybe the real problem is the kind of news we get, the stories that focus our attention.  Click-bait; celebrity break ups; stuff that really doesn't matter in the big scheme of things.  Do I need to know the latest dopey things spouted by a politician during this coronavirus crisis?  Honestly, no.  But the latest from health authorities so I can prudently plan for the next few weeks?  Yes, I need to know that, sooner rather than later.

All of this is a way to say we should focus on news that matters.  As a Christian, that would included the Good News.  Too often we focus on other things, and during Lent we should make a special effort to amend our behavior.  During these crazy days, remembering how God loves us, how God came to us in Jesus, and how God continues to comfort and support us through the presence of the Holy Spirit is the kind of news, the Good News, we need and should treasure.

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