Praying the News
by Laurie Hartzell
 Is it this way for you? Some days and weeks go by full of the ordinary stuff of life —meals, families, work, worship. Life feels peaceful and blessed. Then there are other days and weeks full of new things, full of news. Babies are to be born, someone we love is sick, a natural disaster occurs somewhere in the world, we are aware of war and rumors of war, or our nation seems like a mess. Sometimes, no matter where we turn, some newsy thing is happening.
At times I try to avoid the news. It wears me out. My heart cannot take any more information about the pains and evils of this world. Living a life of isolation certainly sounds inviting every now and then. I’m sure there are many ways I keep myself isolated from what is real all around me. I think we are experts at that in our culture. Addictions, busyness, etc. all keep us isolated from what is real—the bad and the good.
Recently, one of my seminary professors invited us to change one of the prayer practices in our lives. I decided to change my morning drive down Shawnee Road from one of quiet into one of listening to the news. The first morning I turned on NPR with some dread. The first thing I heard was Michelle Norris describing the details of a car bombing in Iraq. Then I heard of some of the controversy about Don Imus and Sanjaya from "American Idol." I wondered, "Do I really want to start my workday like this?" In the midst of the wondering came a gentle invitation from God to "pray the news." So I asked God for the grace to do that. The rest of the car ride into work I held each story before God asking God to do what God willed in those situations. I was being asked to be present to those situations.
When I got to work this particular day, I was bombarded by more news—domestic violence in a family, budget cuts for education, students getting into fights, staff members at odds with each other. Egad! More news, and not good news either! The morning ride experience carried over into the day as God seemed to invite me to "pray this news", too. Later that night I got a call from a friend who had admitted her husband into a detox unit. Again, the gentle invitation to "pray the news".
Needless to say, the past few weeks have been weeks of praying the news—news on the radio, news in the papers, news from friends, news from my family. As I've been practicing "praying the news" I’ve sensed a deeper connection and sense of community with God’s people and with the world. I think God wants to grow this in me. This sense of community often is full of anguish and pain. I am realizing that these feelings are some of my deepest prayers. I’m called to enter into them on behalf of the world and myself.
Sometimes I think of times of contemplation and prayer as times of isolation and withdrawal from the world. These days I’m learning that in true contemplation and prayer, God invites me to enter more fully into the pain and suffering of the world. In prayer and contemplation I can’t get away from what is real. Rather, I am being called to enter it holding tightly to God’s hand.
So, God, please grant me the grace to continue "praying the news". Teach me to walk in integrity and in connection with this world. May your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
For your reflection and prayer
How is God inviting you to "pray the news" today? How are you being invited to enter into the world---not necessarily fix it----just enter into it holding God’s hand?
How do you avoid entering the real in your life and in the world? Does God have any invitations for you amid this pondering?
How can you be "in the world, but not of it?" Are there places or practices in your life where "praying the news" might turn into "consumption of media?"
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