“I Just Can’t Deal with the News Anymore”

I understand.

A steady diet of trauma can wreak havoc on our vagus nerves – even when we are not living it ourselves. Whether our hearts break hardest for innocents slaughtered during a music festival or babies in hospitals with no fuel or exhausted Ukrainians trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy or frantic citizens afraid to leave their homes in Lewiston – we are globally drenched in trauma.

Someone I love told me recently that he had the best summer ever because he restricted 100% of his news intake from June through August. He’s never been happier, he tells me. Again, I get that. Summer vacation from the worries of the world. Nice.

And yet . . . two thoughts:

1. It’s an enormous privilege to be able to block out the sounds and sights of global pain. There are no missiles being launched into my home. There are no young adults screaming for their lives in the brewery down the street. I hear no gunshots as I walk the dog. I hear no mothers wailing in the next apartment. I can block it all out and go about my merry way. But when I do that, I am also blocking out the needs of people Jesus called my neighbors. I’m ignoring the people God loves. May those of us who live in tranquility never experience what it’s like to be forgotten by the rest of the world. I believe it’s against all Jesus died for to remove all proximity from the pain of our neighbors.
2. And also we need to take care of our souls. In the words of Nelba Marquez-Green:

“Nourish your body. Drink water. Move your body as you are able. Get your mammogram. Go to the dentist. Get your check up at the clinic. Get off socials a bit.”

The trees are gorgeous this time of year in many parts of the world. Stare at trees. Breathe deeply. Plant something and nurture it. Play with a dog. Look at baby photos. Check out their little fists.

I believe God calls us to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons and freely give. It’s literally painful when we witness day after day people rising to power – often with the name of Jesus on their lips – calling on us to arrest the sick, destroy the lepers, turn our backs on the dead, succumb to demons, cling to our possessions as if there’s not enough to go around.

Also – because I am guilty of posturing too – if we are okay letting ordinary citizens buy and carry around weapons of war, why not just give everybody a rocket launcher? Because that would be insane.

One of the reasons I am still in Church is because community heals us. It’s hard, but it heals us. At this very moment there are millions of people doing the difficult and beautiful things that create community.

Take a break from the news if you really need to do that. But come back. Because the poor, the sick, the traumatized, and the desperately lonely – we need each other.

And God Almighty, please be with Evan Gershkovich on his 32nd birthday in a Russian prison today. Freedom for the captives.