The Spiritual Practice of Praying the News

There was a time in my life when I was a National Public Radio news junkie. My alarm clock turned on playing NPR’s “Morning Edition.” I drove to and from work listening to the news. After work, I caught up with the news of the day. I tuned in on the weekends to hear the commentary about all the news of the week. Often, I was so chill with the news that I would put it on to fall asleep.

And then something happened. I don’t know if it was me who changed—or if it was the news. But listening to the news started to feel toxic, and I began to avoid the news.

But that didn’t feel right, either. I want to be a good follower of the Holy One and I couldn’t imagine my spiritual mentors avoiding the news. I mean, can you imagine if Isaiah or Amos turned off the news and, instead, just wandered around the countryside searching for puppies, kid goats, and lambs to watch?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the news over the eons. In the early days, the news was carried by people walking between communities. Then technology began to evolve—the printing press brought newspapers—and for the first time, humans could read the news, and not too many centuries later, see pictures of the news.

The advent of radio brought the news into people’s homes using sound. Then there was television showing pictures of the news. Finally, the internet brought the news to these devices that we carry around in our pockets. Think about these changes in disaster reporting. The sounds of the bombing of Pearl Harbor came into people’s homes over the radio. Fast forward to 1986, and schoolchildren and many others watched the Space Shuttle Challenger explode shortly after take-off.

On September 11, 2001, we saw the planes hit the towers, over and over again. And we watched the collapse of the towers.

And then there came the advent of streaming social media. Suddenly, we are seeing and hearing people die in real time. For many of us, witnessing news in this way creates traumatic events—secondary trauma—something that our human nervous systems were not created to withstand.

So how do we stay informed about what is happening in the world without overloading our nervous systems?

Inviting Light or Love to Sit with You

I do want to say a word before I go any further. I think that it’s so important for you to know what level of news intake works for you without sending you over the edge into harm. I’m still working on this for myself, but for now, I limit how much news I consume. I have a couple of newsletters I receive in email and read as I am able. I encourage you to listen to yourself and discern the right way for you to consume news. And if you need to totally unplug, that is just fine, too.

If you are feeling vulnerable but you want to sit with the news, consider this suggestion from Flora Slosson Wuellner:

“In the midst of painful or intense encounter with difficult topics we can think of Christ’s light or God’s love enfolding the other person or situation as well as ourselves, sheltering, guiding, and renewing both of us, so that neither is drained or absorbs the toxicity.” [Adapted from the article, “Seven Suggestions for Healing and Renewal in the Midst of Stress and Anxiety” by Flora Slosson Wuellner.]

Prayers for Before and After Reading the News

Create a ritual that you follow before you tune in to what is happening in the world. Consider going to the room, table, or chair where you meditate, read your daily devotional, or sit in prayer. Light a candle and say a prayer like this:

God of truth and light, I need to know what is going on in this world you created. But I’m afraid of being swept away in despair. Surround me with the light of your compassionate heart as I open this email (start this video, etc.). Protect my sensitive heart from the trauma I might witness. Let me be guided by you to the actions that are mine to take. Remind me that you can carry the heavy burdens so that I don’t have to. Let me see the world’s suffering through your loving eyes and the protection of your gentle Spirit. For you are the Creator of Compassion, the Great Blanket of Healing that encompasses the world. Amen.

After reading the news, pray this prayer:

God, who sits with us in our tears and despair, reach out your healing heart to my wounds and the wounds of those whose stories I have witnessed. Be with all who are grieving, afraid, or full of despair. As I breathe in, fill me with love. As I breathe out, I let go of trauma and despair. I surrender to you all this broken world. Show me the tasks which are mine to do. Amen.

Lectio on Injustice

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by injustices in the world. We witness suffering and we want to shut down, feeling that we can’t do anything that will help. [This practice is adapted from Alive Now, September/October 2013. Copyright © 2013 by The Upper Room.]

Go deeper by yourself or with others by praying the news using the process of Lectio Divina (Diving reading). The Lectio on Injustice practice invites you to engage injustice in an attitude of prayer, listening for God’s word and God’s promptings. It is a way to process the story or experience in a prayerful way, letting God guide you and form you.

First, pick out the item you would like to use as the center of your prayer. This could be:

• A story from the news.

• An experience of injustice that you have witnessed.

If you are using a current event, from the news or from your experience, write down a short summary that you can read or recall when you are prompted during the exercise. If it is easier for you, visualize the event as if you were watching a video.

You will read or remember the event three times, listening each time for a different insight.

1.     During your first reading (or remembering), watch for a key phrase, word, or image that jumps out at you. Hold that image or word out in front of you so that you and the Holy One are gazing at it.

2.     As you read or remember the second time, let the situation sink into God’s heart of love. Can you imagine what God might be saying to the subject of the injustice? Saying to you?

3.     Finally, respond to what you have read or remembered. Do you sense a calling for you from The Holy One? Do you have a prayer to pray to offer this situation back to God?

4.     Lay this story or memory before the compassionate heart of God. And rest in God’s love.