Yesterday's news that the stock market dipped below 10,000, combined with the anticipation of hurricane Alex along the Texas the Gulf coast, plus the continuing inability to curb the BP oil gusher, together with the deadly frustration in Afghanistan at the highest levels, and -- well, you get the picture. There's a lot of news, and a lot of it isn't good. In most cases, the average individual is powerless to make a difference in any of these matters. But we're swept along in the ebb and flow of events that affect us deeply. How is the person of Christian faith to deal with all this?
In the Bible, God is revealed as being active in human history. At times God intervenes directly to rescue. The experience of the exodus is an example, as the Lord liberated the people of Israel from bondage. At other times God uses current affairs to call people to repentance from sin and toward a re-alignment with God's purpose. The Babylonian exile is an example of this, as the Lord stripped the people of the religious moorings they had substituted for genuine faithfulness to God's will. God extends the invitation for people to find their ultimate meaning and wholeness through a genuine relationship with God, an invitation which took on flesh in Jesus Christ.
The grace and salvation that Christ brings is good news. It addresses the worry, insecurity, and sense of hopelessness that we may experience listening to the daily news broadcast or reading the paper or website. It is this relationship with Christ which frees us to trust in God's providential care, love, mercy and purpose, even when the news isn't good. In this assurance we are equipped to deal creatively, effectively and faithfully with the myriad problems that we face day by day. We may not operate on a global scale, but living faithfully as individual disciples does have a positive impact on the wider world. That, too, is evident again and again in the Biblical message.
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