F&M II: Attentiveness in the Light of Faith

NOTE: Unfortunately my internet access is extremely sporadic right now so my posts will continue to be sparse for a couple weeks, but I will do my best...


Attentiveness.

I will be the first admit that I am somewhat of a distracted person, and let's be honest - if our spiritual life is not exactly "up to par" for the time being, prayer time is the first place where distractions hit.

However, in recent Gospel readings (the exact day/reading is TBA...I forget right now haha), we are called as Christians to a higher discipline in which we are constantly living in the Light of Christ, in his Truth. Always striving for the "narrow gate," it is imperative that we practice the renewal of our minds (Romans) in order that we can truly live in that Light through faith. This calls for a sort of spiritual attentiveness in which we are aware of God's presence and will in our lives.

This is critical because we live in a media-saturated society that makes it almost impossible to escape the influence of media messages. Regardless of their form, media become most dangerous in their "distracting" effect on our minds - our self-awareness and our God-awareness. It takes great discipline to go on the internet and do ONLY what you have to do, what you intended to, yet we must practice the disciplines of prudence and moderation.

Though it may be challenging, we should not find it wrong or offensive or "not a big deal." Food is intrinsically necessary for our survival, yet even in that we are called to moderation. If it is something we Christians must practice even with food, then how much more so are we called to it in our other activities like media?

Faith & Media

Over the course of the next 4 months, I will write a series on "Faith & Media." So far, I have used this as a personal blog/journal to talk about spiritual matters, but I believe we need to acknowledge the significant impact of our media culture and face its implications head-on.

As Christians, we are called to read the "signs of the times" and "go and preach to all nations." Now more than ever we have a vast number of means by which we can do this, but (as in every culture of every age) we must be effective communicators and see through the eyes of God. This means being both media literate and entirely detached, knowledgeable of the faith and nonjudgmental of others, defenders of Truth and keepers of the peace.

My purpose is not to condemn media or to command that Jesus' name be preached in every Facebook status or Twitter update. I do, however, intend to hopefully foster a more well-rounded, universal understanding of the media -- its purpose, drawbacks, opportunities, triumphs, and failures -- illuminated by the Light and Truth of our world, the Savior Jesus Christ.

We have the advantage of growing up in this culture in that our generation is the most able to answer this call. However, that requires us to take action -- to know, to use, and to change the media.

In addition to these entries, I will add more pages to include references, news updates, and other information.