As I write, the news is all about the deaths of Michael Jackson, Billy Mays, and Farrah Fawcett. Cycled video of Michael’s singing, Billy’s high-pitched urgings, and Farrah’s addled acting. Close-ups of the pop star’s feet, the pitch man’s pointing finger, and the model’s hair.

Next week, of course, something else will replace Michael, Billy, and Farrah in our national attentions. The president’s dog. The latest celebrity divorce. Some salacious political scandal. Wall Street dirt.

As I watch the news, listen to the radio, and talk to people at the grocery store a few words come to mind.

Obsession

I never cease to be amazed at humanity’s hunger for scandal and dirty laundry. We are gluttons for gossip. Someone died? How sad! But how did they die? That’s what we’re starving to know. Drugs? Tragic accident? Foul play? Were there any last words? Was there a dramatic final scene? Is there a villain to blame?

Fickleness

Our curiosity about such matters, while deep, is extremely short-lived. Without a constant influx of new details, we grow bored and hungry once again. Our attentions wander. We require something else to fill our minutes, focus our thoughts, and feed our need. Fortunately, the media cooperates by finding the next lurid event, shoving the old news quickly aside, and serving the latest to us in technicolor and with breathless commentary. You can always rely on the evening news.

Michael is dead. Let’s not think about how failed and broken we all are. Billy is dead. Let’s not dwell on the meaning of life or our own mortality. Farrah is dead. Let’s not question where beauty resides—in the body or in the soul. Thank goodness for the constant stream of the merely sensational that keeps our attentions from straying to matters that matter. What a tragedy if, in the absence of celebrity news or outrageous crime or titillating perversity, we actually had a few moments to contemplate our own character or examine our existence.

We are easily distracted. There are important matters, eternal matters, clamoring for our attention. There are big questions to be answered, vital concerns to be addressed. Our souls need scrutiny. Our characters require check up. But we would rather focus on Brad and Angelina. They are much more interesting than the drudging details of eternal life.

Disdain

There are two great mistakes Christians can make about all of this.

The first mistake, of course, is to get caught up in it—to be as obsessed and fickle and distracted as our neighbors, to be as oblivious to what is really important as the rest of our witless world. When we join the world in its hunger for the sensational, feast at the same table and gobble down the same scandalous fare, we show ourselves to be no wiser, no more attuned to truth, than those who don’t know Christ.

The second (and more subtle) mistake is to scorn such subjects and those who attend to them—to feel ourselves above merely momentary matters, to have no time for, no interest in the events and people that capture the world’s attention.

The first mistake is a surrender. The second mistake is an abandonment. And the church can afford neither.

Jesus had an incredible capacity to walk this fine middle line. He refused to get caught up in the concerns of those around him. He wouldn’t weigh in on the day’s political concerns (“Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?”) or the latest financial shenanigans (“Make my brother divide the inheritance with me!”). While all those around him were obsessed with clothing and daily bread, Jesus was focused on storing up treasure in Heaven.

But neither did he disdain the obsessions of those who clamored after him. He did not hold the crowds in contempt because they wanted to be fed.

The evidence of their distraction (“Give us bread!” “Restore my sight!”) was always, for Jesus, an opportunity for compassion and teaching. He fed the crowds and then talked about living bread. He healed the blind and then talked about light. People never felt belittled by Jesus for their focus on the unimportant. They felt challenged.

The woman beside me on the plane this week was almost in tears. “Everyone is mourning Michael and no one is remembering Farrah!” I almost groaned. And then I remembered my Master. So we talked about The Poster and laughed about Charlie’s Angels. And then I asked, “What really makes us beautiful?” |L

OTHER COLUMNS:
November 8, 2009 - Why I believe in God
October 25, 2009 - Commuting in days of evil
October 11, 2009 - Poets and don’t know it
September 27, 2009 - How Hollywood proves abortion is wrong
September 13, 2009 - Significance
August 30, 2009 - Dance alternatives
August 2, 2009 - Truth from Twilight
July 19, 2009 - Visitor-friendly churches
July 5, 2009 - The Shack
June 21, 2009 - When forgiveness fails
June 7, 2009 - Re-imagining Education (Part Six)
May 24, 2009 - We are not alone
May 3, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part five)
April 26, 2009 - Conviction
April 12, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part four)
March 29, 2009 - An evangelistic proposal
March 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part three)
March 1, 2009 - He makes me sick
February 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (Part Two)
February 1, 2009 - Spiritual insecurity
January 18, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part one)
January 4, 2009 - Church and politics
December 21, 2008 - Heaven’s music
December 7, 2008 - The church and marriage
November 23, 2008 - God and the president
November 9, 2008 - A time for courage
October 26, 2008 - Likes and dislikes: the Prince Caspian movie
October 12, 2008 - What’s that noise?
September 28, 2008 - Modesty matters (part two)
September 14, 2008 - All it takes is some TLC
August 31, 2008 - Modesty matters (part one)
August 17, 2008 - What would you fight for?
August 3, 2008 - Staying through the credits
July 20, 2008 - Honor to whom honor
July 6, 2008 - Tyler Perry and the movies you’re missing
June 22, 2008 - The peaceable kingdom
May 25, 2008 - Another generation grew up
May 25, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part two)
May 11, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part one)
April 27, 2008 - What is truth?
April 13, 2008 - And the geek shall inherit the earth
March 30, 2008 - A charactered God
March 16, 2008 - The college choice (part two)
March 2, 2008 - Good news can be hard to hear
February 17, 2008 - The college choice (part one)
February 5, 2008 - Ten suggestions for a godly standard of living
January 20, 2008 - Expelled: that “Bueller” guy’s pro-God movie
January 6, 2008 - Choosing a lifestyle
December 23, 2007 - Teachable TV?
December 9, 2007 - Owners or stewards?
November 25, 2007 - Christians teaching Christians to change TV and film
November 11, 2007 - My money is God’s business
October 28, 2007 - Navigating under the radar
October 14, 2007 - The things God values
September 30, 2007 - Movie moments
September 16, 2007 - God’s economics
September 2, 2007 - The best books to read
August 19, 2007 - There’s a rat in ‘separate’
August 5, 2007 - The art of reading
July 22, 2007 - Atheist chic
July 8, 2007 - Why books matter: the sequel
June 10, 2007 - Books: why they matter
June 3, 2007 - The non-impact of “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”
May 27, 2007 - The universal gospel
May 13, 2007 - Loving Muslims through culture
April 29, 2007 - Hope
April 15, 2007 - God in the dark
April 1, 2007 - The gospel goes to the movies
March 18, 2007 - What the Bible movies can teach us
March 4, 2007 - What will you hurt for?
February 18, 2007 - Why Heroes . . .
February 4, 2007 - Give peace a chance
January 21, 2007 - When fairy tales are true
January 7, 2007 - WYSIWYG lives
December 31, 2006 - What’s coming next?
December 17, 2006 - Mercy, mercy
December 3, 2006 - Proof of evolution!
November 19, 2006 - Hungering for God
November 5, 2006 - Violence and government, war and peace
October 22, 2006 - The mighty meek
October 8, 2006 - The Battlestar and the Bible
September 24, 2006 - Soap for the soul
September 10, 2006 - Right vs. cool
August 27, 2006 - The painful truth
August 13, 2006 - More Lies Hollywood Tells
July 30, 2006 - Christian counter culture
July 16, 2006 - The lies Hollywood tells