"The good news for people who sell bad news is that there's a lot of it. Last week, I read the story of an Australian jogger purportedly shot in the back by three "bored" Oklahoma teens. I read that Syria's suspected of rocketing sarin nerve gas into a residential area of their own citizens, and saw photos of the white-wrapped, numbered bodies of children. I read that the Fukushima's environmental impact is "much worse than reported," with toxic waste water flooding the nearby Pacific.
Bad news sells, and there will always be plenty of it.
Last week, a school clerk near Atlanta talked a man with an AK-47 out of shooting up a school. Inspired by a recent sermon from her pastor, she shared her own story of struggle with a man at the crisis point of his life. She prevented bloodshed with the weakness of words. In a bleak hour, she helped turn bad news into good news.
Amen. In a culture of death, we preach a life unshakeable by bullets in the back, nerve gas, or radioactive waste. Good news that swallows up bad."
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excerpt from Parse :: Ministry and Culture Newsletter published 08.26.13
