Ezekiel 37:4

Take a look at the news.  It doesn't matter whether it's a newspaper, TV or an App on your smart phone.  Take a good look at it, and you're hard pressed to find any good news.  It is well known that bad news sells a whole lot better than good news.  But, in today's world of 24/7 news coverage the constant dose of negative thoughts and ideas can be down right depressing.

Seriously, there are psychological effects to being plugged into bad news all day long.  Here's an excerpt from an article in Psychology Today.

We’ve known for a very long time that the emotional content of films and television programs can affect your psychological health. It can do this by directly affecting your mood, and your mood can then affect many aspects of your thinking and behaviour. If the TV program generates negative mood experiences (e.g. anxiety, sadness, anger, disgust), then these experiences will affect how you interpret events in your own life, what types of memories you recall, and how much you will worry about events in your own life.

When it comes to the news, there is enormous pressure on networks like CNN and FOX to keep your attention for 24 hours constantly.  Gone are the days of the news being a 30 minute program at 6pm and again at 11pm.  Now, the news is reporting constantly.  So, how do these networks attempt to keep us watching all day long?   First, with negative sensationalism.   Like a moth to a flame we are attracted to the flashing, overhyped negative spin that is given to just about any news story.  We don't just get the basic who, what, when, and where these days.  We get the finer details of the scandal behind the story, or the possibility of a scandal.  This type of thing has been gradually increasing over the past 20-30 years.

Another way these networks keep us watching is by knowing their audience.  CNN knows that its demographic are primarily liberal Democrats.  FOX knows that their audience is conservative Republicans.  These competing networks simply report the news in a way that their audience wants to hear it.  

My friends, wisdom isn't in the hype or the sensationalism of a story.  Wisdom is found in the truth.

Likewise, wisdom is not being able to regurgitate your own narrow-minded spin.  Wisdom is found in the endeavor to understand those with opposing views.  Don't be fooled by these tactics to keep you tuned in, watching their barrage of bad news all day long.   It's like submitting to brainwashing.  And, the constant dose of bad news leads to poor psychological and emotional health.  

Do you know someone who is constantly glued to the news?  

They are cynical, cranky, hopeless, constantly spouting negative comments about the state of affairs with the world, the president, the times.  You might say they become like dry bones, as in the valley of dry bones from today's Ezekiel reading...hollowed out, and unable to see the good around them.  

God says to the prophet Ezekiel, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord.'"  The Word of the Lord is good news..it's always good news.  God sends Ezekiel to speak good news to the dry bones.  And, when Ezekiel speaks good news the dry bones are given new life.  

The good news of God's love and mercy can breathe new life into us.  Good news can even breathe new life into those who have heard nothing but bad news for a very long time.  

Into a world filled with bad news we are sent like Ezekiel to tell the good news.  Saint Paul says, The Spirit of Christ dwells within us.  To tell the good news is to let that Spirit come out in our words and our actions.  God sends you to bear the good news of His love and mercy to a world that is becoming more and more dry beneath the weight of bad news.  Tell others the good news.  Show them the good news with your actions.  Then, watch as God breathes new life into these dry bones.  

Amen