Extra, Extra, Read All About It!

You can see it, can’t, you? You see the newsboy with the “pageboy cap” and the newspaper held up to show the headline of the day’s latest edition. In the times before the “Information Age”, the news would hit the streets, and you could grab a copy with the coins in your pocket. Or the kid on the bike would throw your rolled subscription copy from hers or his bike, hopefully landing it right on the dry front walk leading to your door. Those were the days when you sought the news.

Those were the days before the news started stocking you from your devices, the grocery checkout stand, the tube, and the ever-popular cable TV. The microprocessor chip, the internet, digital media, and good old fallen human nature have lined up like the four horsemen of the apocalypse and charged in to wear us all down. It used to be there were readers of the local paper and other notable papers. “Read!” we were told. People were encouraged to be intellectually curious, to stay informed. Now I get coached to do myself a favor and put down my device, unplug and take a few breaths, to listen to the silence. We are urged to look at natural things like trees in green space, or the waves coming in on the Gulf Coast. Get this: there are apps for your phone to get you to take a few moments to recover from your phone.

I would not presume to advise you on this. I trust you to order your life and your habits in a way that is in the best interest of your soul. That is the Anglican Way, at least one aspect of it. We urge the absorption of Word of God, through the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. We hold up the Sacraments of the Church as the signs given by Christ, and hold them to be sure of certain means by which we receive inward and spiritual grace. Word and Sacrament: we see these as making all the difference for us in this life and the life to come. Nourished by them, trusting in them, we put the onus of responsibility on the individual, on each other to make good decisions for ourselves.

Okay, speaking of sacraments, I confess: I said I would not presume to advise you, but I realize I do sometimes. I like to call it encouragement. I know how I have been well encouraged by the mentors in my life. I recall Fr. Bates urging us to match the time we are on our phones browsing and scrolling to the time we spend in the Word and in prayer. I recall nudges like this from Fr. Wismer too. I feel advised and encouraged to spend more time in the “scrolls” of Holy Scripture, than in the endless scrolling we wrap ourselves in on internet browsers and social platforms. Yikes! I spend about four hours a day in Word and Prayer. Can I get myself down to four a day with devices?

News is chasing us, but we have news to deliver ourselves. The Greek word for it is “euangelion,” and the Anglo-Saxon word, “gospel” …actually, “godspell,” meaning “good story”. Let’s just say “good news.” And what is this Good News? It is that God loves us and has shown this love in the person Jesus Christ. God, in Christ, has actually brought about our deliverance from all that means to harm us ultimately. People in the throes of despair ask themselves this or a similar question. “What meaning is there in all reality and in my life that is not immediately rendered meaningless in the moment of my death? Is there any such meaning? Jesus says in the love letter which is his life, I love you. It is a perfect and unending love which ushers you through this suffering, through death and into everlasting life in union with me.” That is the meaning which holds us up on both sides of the grave and into eternity. That is the glorious good news, which is delivered by Jesus to the nations. Extra, extra, read all about it! We must persevere in steadfast faith, in the confession of the Name of Jesus. He is our Good News. I have one more aspect of this I want to offer.

Not only are you to read and absorb the Good News, letting it buoy you in the midst of strife, but you are also to deliver the euangelion, the gospel to people around you. It is extra, extra good news. You can tell it like no one else can tell it. You have your way, unique to you. You don’t have to wear a newsboy’s cap. You don’t have to announce your news from street corners, but you may be the only “new testament” some people with whom you cross paths ever read or listen to. One of the epistles has an important urging from the apostle.

“But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence.”  — I Peter 2:15-16a

You have an account, you have news. I would love to hear your story. So be in touch and let me hear it. Telling me or one of the clergy or a friend will make you ready to tell others. It is the news of hope we all need to hear.

Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.