Only the Headlines

General Harold Greene

Yesterday, an Afghan soldier shot and killed US General Harold Greene and wounded 15 others during a combat training meeting at a military academy near Kabul.

It was the lead news story on BBC America, but not on the large US networks, which topped the breaking news list with a collision between two tour busses in Times Square.  Several people were injured and taken to area hospitals, so it wasn't a minor event, but I thought the attack in Afghanistan would have had top billing.

The Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.’  - Exodus 24:12

In today's reading from Exodus, Moses leaves the people in the charge of two of his leaders, Aaron and Hur, and he goes to the top of the mountain to meet with God.  While he is there, the people can see that something amazing is taking place, with the mountaintop shrouded in clouds for six days before God appeared as a flames of fire.

But after a few days, they lose interest and build their own god.

Moses ceases to be the lead story.  They have more important things to do and think about.

So, by the time the forty days are over and he returns with a list of rules they must follow, they have moved on.  Now it is Moses who loses patience with them, smashes the tablets and has to start over.

There is a message here about timing and expectations, a message that the network news is struggling to learn, and a message that has eluded many religious leaders as well.

If the information takes too long to deliver, we tend to move on and it loses its meaning and value.

I have to make sure I understand that when writing these reflections, and I do try to keep them short for that reason.

If it sounds like everything is entertainment, I am not so sure that isn't too far from the truth.  The Bible stories were told to groups gathered together, people eager to hear stories, to learn from what they heard and to talk about it afterwards.

We don't do that any more!  We hear snippets, as if the entire meaning can be gleaned form a headline and then we are off on our way.

Guilty!

In these reflections, I do the same thing, but the desire is to generate greater interest in the whole story, more like a teaser or trailer than a synopsis.

So, the question is this.  Are we failing to get the attention of those who come to church, just as much as we fail to interest those who don't?

I have mentioned here that we have topics of interest that concern us all, and we are looking for ways to gather together to talk about them openly, respecting and listening to each other in the process.

We think that may be a way to get beyond the headlines and discover what matters to us, collectively as well as individually.  If we don't, what value is there in hearing only the headlines?

More to come...

Photo credit: BBC News