The
news reports following Hurricane Matthew have saddened and disturbed me. As
they say, "all news is local news," I guess. The reports on
national news always seem to start with how close the hurricane is to the USA
and what preparations Americans are making to get ready. News from the
devastation in Haiti, or even Cuba or the Bahamas now, is almost a footnote,
practically an afterthought. The death toll in those places, already over 100
souls and bound to grow precipitously, apparently isn't as newsworthy as the
boarding up of windows in Miami or a potential loss of electricity in South
Carolina.
Of
course, those things matter too, but who isn't my neighbor?
How
different this is from God's view of the news (if anything is actually 'news'
to God). We do not seem capable as a society of assigning the same value
to every person. American jobs are deemed more important than Bangladeshi jobs
in this--and every--election cycle. And now our news programs show that
perhaps even American property is more newsworthy than Haitian lives.
Where
is the Reign of God in all this? Where are the so-called "people of
God?" We seem to actually be far more myopic "people of America"
with a few Bible verses thrown in to validate our self-righteousness.
I
tip my hat to Bill & Melinda Gates, whose foundation's focus is predicated
on the simple yet paradigm-altering notion that every human life has equal
value. Imagine how that guiding principle would actually lead to radically
different priorities than almost any of us live... what we read, how we donate,
our political views, how we pray.
This
is such basic Jesus stuff! Yet we ignore it completely by thinking, "Well,
I know people in Florida. I don't know anyone in Haiti. And for the record, I
don't even like Cuba."
A
World Vision donor recently made a transformational gift to significantly
expand our humanitarian work inside Syria. He'd been presented with
several options, prayed about them and called my colleague with his decision.
"I think I'm supposed to love my enemies" was all he said by
way of explanation. Let's let that soak in for a moment...
Not
all news is good news, but it is all God news. I think I'm supposed to try to
see the news, especially the people involved, the way God does.
Cory
October
2016
