The news this week, dear God, the news.
It is relentless. Bombs in airports and subways. No boundaries between combatants and innocents, everyone equally targeted for destruction. Too many boundaries between nations and people, between violence and freedom, between haves and have-nots.
The news this week, dear God, the news.
Parades and palms, cloaks and a donkey. Rocks that praise, people who throw stones. Last meals we know mark the end, last words that mark a radical new beginning. Feet washed that run to betray or simply run away.
The news this week, dear God, the news.
Corrupt leaders. Impoverished and oppressed citizens. A few with so much, many with not enough. Feet dirty and tired with no place to rest. Food, shelter, peace, things people have need of that others refuse to give over.
The news this week, dear God, the news.
It makes me tired. Weighs me down with sleep just when I know you need me most to be awake and alert. But I am so weary. Weary of the news this week, the fickle crowds, the followers who turn on a dime, all of us so quick to sell our soul for a quarter. I just want to close my eyes and hope to wake up to better days.
Dear God, help me not to close my eyes when Jesus asks me to keep watch. Awaken me. Strengthen me. Allow me to hear the news, news of false arrests and merciless floggings, of unscrupulous leaders and weak disciples. Open my eyes to see the blood, sweat and tears of Jesus and those who are suffering alongside him this week. Don’t let me watch with detached curiosity. Don’t let me respond with useless, dismissive pity or piety.
The news this week, dear God, the news of your Son’s Passion, let it be the lens through which I see all the news this week and every week. Don’t let me become so weighed down with it that I become numb and fall asleep. Let me see and hear in each story, each pixel and each sound bite, my Lord Jesus Christ, the One who came to save this troubled but beloved world.
The news this week, dear God, the news. May it be for me a clarion call to follow so closely the path of Jesus that I can’t miss the Risen Christ on Easter and when he comes again.
The news this week, dear God, the news this Holy Week, remind me that it is Good and show me how to live in the light of it until all the week’s news is good, too.
