PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS DEVOTIONAL 3
Photo from Unsplash.
Nothing says "everything is commodified, nothing is sacred" like the late-stage capitalist profession: "influencer." A brand, who wants to sell a product, hires a person to hock that product in direct relation to that person's influence or personal brand. Buy a person, who is a product, to sell said product to other people, without making them think they're engaging in traditional commerce. It’s a brilliant, nihilistic exchange.
The beauty and brilliance of influence is the way it marshals "word and deed" to its (mostly boring, sometimes horrific) end. This influencer represents cool, hip, try-nothing aloofness. That influencer is edgy, artistic, authentic. Their photos from the skate park, or a concert, or the islands of Fiji—the way they visit this cultural site, do that Cool New Thing™️— are "word and deed" directed to a very specific (often lucrative) end.
Word and actions pointed at a specific terminus not good, not entirely bad, seemingly morally neutral, but subsequently ethically and spiritually deadening. A Gospel of No News for people afraid of or hiding from bad news.
"How beautiful is the sight of feet that bring good news."
There's a friendly, innocuous saying–attributed to St. Francis in more liturgical traditions–that goes "preach the Gospel always, use words if necessary." In my evangelical past I heard its saintliness reduced and instead attributed to Christ himself: "so let your light shine among men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father in heaven." Christians as "influencers" for Christ. Deed, specifically, and Word–rarely but specifically and neutrally–used to accomplish an end. To shine a light. To reflect God's goodness. To rebrand and repackage "being a nice person" to include "saving others." A self-righteous hit for the ever fleeting self-justification high.
Our baptismal covenant asks "will you proclaim...good news?" Obviously the church is going to say we have to do this. Of course the system needs to self-perpetuate. Of course one more brand needs many more influencers to get its message out into the world.
But here’s the problem with all of this: no one actually believes that what they are selling, hocking, proclaiming, influencing is GOOD NEWS.
Good news doesn't need sales representatives and influencers.
Good news engenders more than just niceness and congeniality.
Good News does not need to be repackaged, rebranded, softened.
Good news is...well...self-explanatory. It is information that transforms, makes-news, changes everything and that is coupled with an inescapable immediacy.
Either the revelation of Jesus Christ—and his life, death, and resurrection—changes, has changed and will change everything OR it’s just one more product to be sold.
This is not something I can convince you of or "influence" you into believing. It's something you know or will know, eventually.
But here's one thing I can say: no influencer has ever offered me a product that would be present with me in a depression that accompanies a diagnosis of infertility. No kind gesture or unspoken act gave me worth when I had none. No unspoken Gospel met me in the darkest days and hours of my life and reminded me of the light.
The Good News needs to be proclaimed. Because it's actually, functionally, REALLY good news.
