Seeing with God’s eyes

“I can’t remember when we’ve ever talked so much about spiritual things,” a CNN news anchor said in astonishment before she began an interview.

She’s right. A series of events in the last months have caused the media, which often treats religion cynically and critically, to engage with spiritual matters in a more balanced way – although this is more obvious in American than in Canadian media. This has been an encouragement to me, for in all these cases, Christians had the opportunity to speak the good news of the gospel. What amazed me most was how interested people were.

Photo: Peter Hochheim

First I have to think about the reporting on the suffering and death of Pope John Paul II. Some two million people poured into Rome to participate in his funeral. And that happened despite the declining church attendance in Europe and North America and the fact that most Catholics disagree with the Catholic church’s teaching on contraception, abortion, ordination of women, the marriage of priests and so on. I found it interesting that so many youth were fascinated by the Pope and not put off by his conservative positions. They found him “real.” In a world that focuses on money, power and influence, he spoke of other values: God, the Holy Spirit, morals, obligations, love, sin, forgiveness, purpose, death and eternity. Perhaps this great interest was a deep longing for a clearer, firmer sense of direction, or at least convictions to which one could react.

Then I have to think of the reports about Brian Nichols, who, facing a court appearance, overpowered a guard and shot four people, including the judge, before fleeing and taking the 26-year-old widow and mother Ashley Smith as hostage. Smith had the opportunity to engage him in conversation and to calm him with Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose-Filled Life. She shared with him that there was also a purpose for his life and that their encounter was no accident. “Perhaps you need to go to prison to share the Word of God with all the prisoners there,” she told him. This event opened many doors for Rick Warren to proclaim the gospel and caused people to think about the meaning of their own lives.

Around the same time, the murder of four young RCMP officers was making news in Canada. During the memorial service the father of one of the men, 25-year-old Peter Schiemann, who is a Lutheran pastor, gave impressive witness to the strength of faith. “Dad,” Peter had said about a year before his death, “if something ever happens to me, I want people to hear about Jesus and to hear about hope.” In spite of the tragedy, the testimony of this Christian family may well have a transforming influence on people who were there, or watched the service on television. At any rate, it was cause for thought. Even a Winnipeg Free Press journalist who describes himself as an atheist was moved by the testimony of the Schiemann family.

And how can we forget about the many news reports about Terry Schiavo? The case highlighted an ethical dilemma. Millions of people saw what happens when the justice system elevates itself over a natural understanding of right and wrong and the worth of human life is diminished.

Christians are often discouraged about the media, because it seems we are powerless in an increasingly godless world. These four events gave evidence, however, that people are open to spiritual things and seeking hope and truth. May God give us strength to persevere, remain steadfast, seeing the world with God’s eyes, so we don’t become weary of using our opportunities to witness.

Marianne Dulder is editor of the Mennonitische Rundschau, the German-language periodical of the Canadian MB Conference. This piece is excerpted, with permission, from her June 2005 editorial.