Jesus, ascended and at the right hand of God, is overseeing all things for the good of His Church. Theologian N.T. Wright likens it to Jesus being in the world’s control room. How’s it turning out? Quinnipiac reports that 72% of Americans polled from October 1 through 4 are not satisfied with the way things are going in America. Seminary chapel and Sunday worshippers regularly pray for the nation and our leaders, but is the control room hearing our prayers?
Timothy Snyder is a history professor at Yale University. Interviewed today on “Morning Joe,” he said two things that perked up my thoughts. First, we should spend less time in front of screens, but here you and I are, in front of our screens. Less time on line, he said; more time reading newspapers. Which leads to the second point that got into my head. Professor Snyder said we need to pay much more attention to local news than we do today. As a kid, I delivered “The Chicago Heights Star,” all the local news, but no more. Here in Collinsville we used to have “The Collinsville Herald,” but no more. The best we get is the Belleville News-Democrat, as thin as a newspaper can be and very, very limited on our town’s news. TV? “Local news” means the metropolitan region, which usually doesn’t include Collinsville. What do let into our heads? National news, world news, metro news, or no news. Nothing about the city council, local police reports, local economy, and so on.
How well is Jesus is guiding? If I reflect upon my personal life, our family, our congregation, and what I experience in our town, it’s going well. Are there challenges? Of course. Sin and evil, temptations and trials, godless people and injustice, illness and death are all around, but the word of the Lord Jesus is enabling me to cope. A cartoon, sorry I can’t read the artist’s name, shows a man hoping to enter heaven. St. Peter says, “Actually, you had a pretty great life, but you were looking down at your phone and you missed it.” Good people are in mass media but one result is we’re easily deceived into being dissatisfied. If all politics is local, so is Christian living. Jesus in the control room is indeed taking good care of His people.