I've always been a fan of BBC News. This past week I made a commitment to watch at least 30 minutes of the BBC World News regularly, daily if possible. It was an interesting experience this week. The BBC this week spent time leading with and focusing on the devastating flooding in Ghana and Kenya and what it's going to take to get those who live there food. Fox, CNN, and MSNBC? All of them led with the OJ Simpson story. It really left me speechless. A world away people are dying of starvation from flooding and disease and our news channels are obsessed with OJ's latest capers and Britney's latest meltdowns.
My point here isn't to stand up on a moral soapbox and call out the US for its shallowness. It's simply a reminder to me and perhaps to you, too, that there is a bigger world out there--a world beyond OJ, Britney, Paris Hilton, and Lindsey Lohan --a world desperate for the Kingdom of God's grace to break through. (By the way, I do understand that OJ and Britney, etc, need an in-breaking of God's grace, as well!)
As I sat in my massage chair in my upper middle class house in my upper middle class neighborhood watching one of our TVs (we have more than one), seeing the devastation in Ghana, I was moved, as I often am, to ask the question--What really matters? How can I live in such opulence and not somehow respond to the overwhelming need around me? To whom much is given, much is expected.
These aren't the ravings of guilt, but passionate mission questions.
To be honest, I'm not sure I know the answer at this point. But I do know one answer is not to do nothing.
More to come.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I share your thoughts. Many of us do have enough but how can it get to those who don't? And, along a similar line, then why do we need more and more stores to be built instead of keeping some open land? It's slow but one person can make a difference with his/her actions.
I just can't believe what all those networks claim - that they only show what people want. I think they are simply too lazy to put together thoughtful news shows that are also interesting to watch. 24 hour news has simply become 24 hours of OJ, etc.
One of the benefits of international business travel was CNN World on tv. Has anyone found CNN world on a PHX station? Being a retired homebody now, I look to the NY Times, the Economist magazine, and the McNeil Lehrer Report. Many thanks for the BBC tip.
Funny thing - I don't think that any of the above are going broke by doing *real* news.
On the issue of living in opulence/guilt... A former pastor (we really do listen to those sermons!) helped me move beyond the guilt part of the incredible blessings that we enjoy here - God didn't give us blessings to enjoy individually. He gave us blessings not so that we would feel guilty, but so that we might bless others. So I look forward to your ongoing sermon series for creative ways of using our blessings to bless others.
CNN World does run for an hour in mid-morning, 9 or 10 am depending on the time of year, on CNN.
Post a Comment