For several years now, I have learned to pray the news. For me, this is borne both out of frustration and my inability to feel like I can do something which will make a difference in some tangible way.
I have learned to pray for sirens I hear in the distance, for the newscasters on television, reporters in the field, and for law enforcement making traffic stops. I have learned to pray for floods in our state, earthquakes in other countries, famine and other distresses. As much as it is difficult for me to do so, I try to look at the faces of the persons involved in these news stories. Because there is a story there which is not captured on the news broadcast or in the reading of the story.
I know just as well as you do that there are all kinds of reasons folks end up on the news. Sometimes persons have been desperate, have made the best decisions they could make at the time, hoping and yet knowing that decision will have far-reaching implications. Sometimes folks are on the news because the pain of living has become too much, and their inability to work things out has been overwhelming. Often this moment to which we are privy has been bubbling for a very long time.
It is hard to pray the news. I don’t like it, but it is necessary for me to do so. To remember that not everyone desires or is able to achieve lives of peace and generosity. To remember that people let greed and power get in the way of caring for their companions on this human journey.
Right now, it seems I must pray all the more. When some are so preoccupied with power, when others resist that power because it interferes with their basic rights as humans on this earth, it sets up struggles which should never have to happen. As a result, people are deported, die earlier than needed, cannot have a safe place to learn and thrive, and are even threatened with eradication, all because of misplaced priorities and goals.
I don’t have many solutions to offer today, except that if I were in charge of the universe, I would tell some folks to grow up, to feed some hungry folks, to listen to someone’s story of serving their country, to be gracious with the overworked clerks, servers, and maintenance workers. I would tell them to package food for food pantries, to pick up some trash, to clean up someone else’s mess, and to listen to some good music. I would tell them to walk around in their yard and in their neighborhood, to watch something funny on TV, to read a good book, to be grateful for the sun on their skin and the wind blowing over where their hair used to be.
Sometimes when I pray the news, I pray that everyone will take a deep breath, listen for a moment, think before they act.
Today I have a lot of places, people, and situations for which to pray. No doubt others will come as the day progresses. And, in these prayers, I will be guided to see how I can help in this moment.
May it be so for you as well.
Peace Be With You. – Paul
SOLITUDE 
Rev. Dr. Ron Bell
Mayfair Heights United Methodist Church 