Thoughts for the Day

As a door turns on its hinges,
so does a lazy person in bed.
The lazy person buries a hand in the dish,
and is too tired to bring it back to the mouth.
The lazy person is wiser in self-esteem
than seven who can answer discreetly.

For lack of wood the fire goes out,
and where there is no whisperer, quarrelling ceases.
As charcoal is to hot embers and wood to fire,
so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.
he words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels;
they go down into the inner parts of the body.
Like the glaze covering an earthen vessel
are smooth lips with an evil heart.
An enemy dissembles in speaking
while harbouring deceit within;
when an enemy speaks graciously, do not believe it,
for there are seven abominations concealed within;
though hatred is covered with guile,
the enemy’s wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Have you ever played the game of Chinese Whispers? No-one knows why it's called this, though it could be something to do with passing messages along the Great Wall of China which is over 21 miles long (13 km). But it's great fun. You whisper a message to someone who then whispers it to their neighbour etc etc. The final message can often be very funny and is always different to the one that started. I remember doing this as part of an all-age talk in church once. I can't now recall the actual message but it was something like "God says we should love everyone, and ourselves" which ended as "Dad says we should have every bun for ourself."

Proverbs may have been written nearly 3,000 years ago but sometimes they have a really modern relevance. Today's words about those who whisper lies is a good description of those who initiate or spread rumour, gossip, and outright lies through social media. We can all see how fake messages fanned the spread of unrest recently when three little girls were killed in Southport. Malicious lies and fake rumours ignited all the worst in many people leading to attacks on the police and asylum seekers among others. The final outcome of a single message copied and distorted thousands of times was shocking.

As Christians we need to learn to verify things first - from people we trust, or from media we trust - before passing on any news. There is also a real need to pass on good news, rather than bad news, or gossip! More than anything though it helps to take such news to God first, for when measured against His truth, fake news becomes more obvious.

Lord God,
may we learn discretion,
in what we say and write,
and the wisdom of not passing on news
from social media sites or people that might be suspect.
Teach us to refrain from gossiping about others
or being critical of those who are different to ourselves.
Give us the gifts of kindness and compassion,
that we may only speak or write that which
is positive and helpful.
Amen.