Show Notes
Who decides what news reaches our eyes and hearts? In this episode of Formed for Faithfulness, Case Thorp explores the spiritual significance of media gatekeepers — publishers, editors, journalists, and content creators — and challenges us to pray for those shaping public discourse. Drawing from Scripture and real-world examples, we consider how Christians can engage with the media thoughtfully, faithfully, and prayerfully.
Nuance’s Formed for Faithfulness is a weekly liturgy to encourage all of us to be faithful to Christ in the public square. Join Case Thorp as he follows the Church calendar through the reading of Scripture, prayer, and short reflections on faith in all facets of public life.
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Episode Transcript
The first week of fall is also the 15th week of normal time. Thank you for joining us as we take a few moments to pause, celebrate God’s greatness and goodness, and consider how we might better reflect the light and love of His kingdom as we go about our days.
Paul’s first letter to Timothy chapter 2 beginning in verse 1.
1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. 7 And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.
When you think about the sort of people in high positions Paul urges believers to pray for in his first letter to Timothy, politicians and business people probably come readily to mind. Maybe celebrities too. But there’s another important group to add to this list. Journalists. Publishers and editors have long been referred to as gatekeepers by academics, a term with significant spiritual symbolism and meaning. Just as the gatekeepers of old used to sit on the walls of the city and decide who did and didn’t get let in. So those in places of influence in our media, which today includes bloggers and other independent voices, determine much of the information that we receive. This is important on two levels. Of course, there’s the accuracy and legitimacy, or otherwise, of what they are saying. But there’s a prior and more subtle issue here. While these gatekeepers may not persuade you what to think about a certain issue, if you are well informed and discerning, they are quietly persuading you what issues to think about in the first place. Have you ever paused to wonder? Not what would Jesus do, but what would Jesus publish? If he were an editor or producer for the day, would he present the same things our news media serves up? With all this in mind, I wonder whether you pray for your gatekeepers, the people who decide, research, produce, edit, and report the news you consume, who set your agenda about what’s important. If not, maybe you could find their names and pray that God might guide them in their work. Because gatekeeping is a serious business, there’s a powerful example in 2 Kings 7, which tells of the time when the Syrian siege of Samaria had God’s people in desperate straits. When a group of outcast lepers go over to the Syrian camp and find it deserted because God has caused the invaders to flee, they begin to plunder the food and goods. But then one of them declares, what we are doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. So the lepers return to Samaria and report to the gatekeepers who broadcast the good news in the city. These gatekeepers are a channel of news of liberty and hope. Surely two things we could do with hearing more about these days.
The 79th Psalm.
1
O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple,
they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
2
They have left the dead bodies of your servants
as food for the birds of the sky,
the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild.
3
They have poured out blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there is no one to bury the dead.
4
We are objects of contempt to our neighbors,
of scorn and derision to those around us.
5
How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever?
How long will your jealousy burn like fire?
6
Pour out your wrath on the nations
that do not acknowledge you,
on the kingdoms
that do not call on your name;
7
for they have devoured Jacob
and devastated his homeland.
8
Do not hold against us the sins of past generations;
may your mercy come quickly to meet us,
for we are in desperate need.
9
Help us, God our Savior,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us and forgive our sins
for your name’s sake.
Let’s pray with Francis de Sales.
Almighty God, strengthen and direct, we pray, the will of all whose work it is to write what many read and to speak where many listen. May they be bold to confront evil and injustice, understanding and compassionate of human weakness, rejecting alike the half truth, which deceives, and the slanted word which corrupts. May the power which is theirs, for good or ill, always be used with honesty and courage, with respect and integrity. Amen.
And finally, a reading from Jeremiah chapter eight, beginning in verse 18.
You who are my Comforter in sorrow,
my heart is faint within me.
Listen to the cry of my people
from a land far away:
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
Is her King no longer there?”
“Why have they aroused my anger with their images,
with their worthless foreign idols?”
“The harvest is past,
the summer has ended,
and we are not saved.”
Since my people are crushed, I am crushed;
I mourn, and horror grips me.
Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no healing
for the wound of my people?
Oh, that my head were a spring of water
and my eyes a fountain of tears!
I would weep day and night
for the slain of my people.
