Pastor's Blog: Time for Some Good News
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This week, The New York Times published an article by Bruce Sacerdote, a Dartmouth economics professor, that detailed the results of a study he did on COVID coverage in the media and how that coverage, at least in the United States, was tilted toward the negative. The article’s title says it all – “Bad News Bias.” His point was that the media have chosen to emphasize the downside of the pandemic, not giving nearly enough attention to the many good things taking place in the fight against coronavirus.
Sacerdote’s in-depth analysis of the situation paralleled my own hunch. Despite advances with vaccines and the subsequent realities of lower cases and less hospitalizations, everything I was hearing and reading seemed intended to create a “sky is falling” mentality from the media. Sacerdote’s conclusion was that the media have been intentionally emphasizing the negative aspects of the story because that’s what the public wanted them to do! In other words, they were giving the public the slant that it wanted, when what the public needs and deserves is the truth.
The article made me think about how we as Christians approach the realities of everyday life. Without question, there is much going on today that makes us want to shake our heads and then bury them in the sand. As one theologian once said, “Original sin is the only doctrine of the Christian faith for which there is ample empirical evidence.” But on the other side of the scale, we have much to be hopeful about. God has overcome all the powers of darkness through the gift of His Son Jesus Christ. Nothing in all creation will ever separate us from His love in Christ Jesus.
This next week invites us to walk in the path of victory that Jesus has made possible. The worship services that make up Holy Week are designed to take us through the realities of everyday life, realities that Jesus himself faced with courage and joy. Because of his obedience, beginning with his fulfillment of prophecy on the donkey on Palm Sunday and culminating with his sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary, Jesus gave us the truth, and not what we may want to hear. As an old cartoon put it back in the day when Transactional Analysis was all the rage, the caption has Jesus looking down from the cross, saying to those looking on, “If I’m OK and you’re OK, then what am I doing nailed to this cross?” The truth is that we’re not OK and so much of what’s wrong with this world is as much our fault as anyone’s. But the even greater truth is that Jesus’ atoning death makes us OK in the eyes of God and his resurrection from the dead assures us that the bad news will never have the last word; he will. Jesus is indeed Lord of all and will be forevermore.
That’s the reason we refer to our message as “good news.” Indeed, it is the best news of all. So, join us this coming week as we sing the story, pray the story, and tell the story. It is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; and, most importantly, it is that truth that will ultimately and forever set us free.
“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).