Speaking of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said; "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come." (Jn 16:13) Christians should be people committed to truth, believing as we do in the truth contained in scripture and carried in the gospel message. Furthermore, we can expect guidance into truth by the Spirit, according to John's Gospel. 20th century Swiss theologian Hans Küng warned that "a Church which abandons the truth abandons itself." Are we, the churches, paying enough attention to what the Spirit is saying to us?
I find myself perplexed by the news and media environment currently. It seems, as newsrooms are downsizing and journalists are being let go, we are more frequently being expected to work a bit harder to find reliable, balanced news that is not driven by some agenda behind the scenes. It's another layer of investigation to figure out who owns a particular information outlet, and what they are promoting or suppressing in the news environment.
Speaking of the communications industry, pastor and teacher Eugene Petersen wrote; "Implicit in this enormous communications industry is an enormous lie: if we improve communications we will improve life. It has not happened and it will not happen. Often when we find out what a person 'has to say' we like him or her less, not more. Better communication often worsens international relations." Interestingly, Petersen wrote this in 1990, before we had access to the internet or social media.
Friends, the season of Lent is upon us. Let us take stock of our sources of so-called truth, and re-examine our connection to the real truth that comes to us in love, through the living Word and as the Holy Spirit leads us. Shalom.
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