BROADCASTS.com

I took the little scroll from the angel\u2019s hand and ate it. (Revelation 10:10a)

\xa0

What are you eating these days?\xa0 What does your diet consist of?

We\u2019ve talked the past couple days in these devotions about the prevalent trend of deconstructing one\u2019s faith.\xa0 I wonder sometimes if part of the reason this has caught on is because we have access to such a smorgasbord of information and impressions these days.\xa0

With the digital revolution, a few things happened.\xa0 Firstly, we gained access to encyclopedic knowledge of almost anything.\xa0 We now have the power in our pocket to \u201cresearch it for ourselves\u201d in a fast and efficient way that previous generations couldn\u2019t.

Secondly, private space disappeared.\xa0 What was once private became and continues to become public. \xa0Abuse scandals long hidden from view behind bureaucracies began emerging into public light with increasing speed, and especially in these last years since the #metoo movement.\xa0 Indeed, the #metoo movement was just one of the examples of what were once private stories emerging into public space.\xa0 And that\u2019s been a good thing.

But the loss of private space has meant more.\xa0 Increasingly, we live our lives publicly, and this happens, I think, largely because of and through social media.\xa0 We reveal our thoughts, opinions, emotions, and intimate moments publicly with pictures, videos, and unfiltered text, feeling an increasing need and desire to document these things for public consumption. \xa0We contribute to this \u201cpublic-ation\u201d of our private affairs when we post content, but I\u2019m interested today more in the volume of content we\u2019re exposed to when we pick up our devices. \xa0\xa0\xa0

Because when you put all that exposure together: we are ingesting more information about everything than we ever were before.\xa0 Sometimes that leaves us feeling knowledgeable, but increasingly, it leaves us feeling uncertain in the face of so much complexity.\xa0 Especially when the info we get is about the abuses and sins of leaders, influencers, and institutions like the church.\xa0 We no longer know who to trust.\xa0 And the increasing offers of alternative beliefs, identities, and lifestyles just confuses us further. \xa0\xa0

This, I think, is what we are increasingly consuming.\xa0 This is what our diet consists of.\xa0 We no longer have the privilege of innocent or na\xefve belief.\xa0 We know the stains on the church and its leaders, we know other people believe different things, and believe things differently.\xa0 And: given this information overload, we feel increasingly inept at figuring out how to know or believe anything for ourselves.\xa0 \xa0\xa0

So, an old school, non-digital invitation for you today.\xa0 Whether you\u2019re on a journey of deconstructing, reconstructing, or just plainly bewildered and unsure where you sit, try this: change your diet.\xa0 Put the phone down, and eat your Bible instead.\xa0 Better yet: share that meal others in embodied community where you can chew it over together.\xa0

We\u2019re always ingesting and consuming something.\xa0 But maybe a better diet would leave us feeling more calm, rested, and regular.\xa0 John the Revelator is our patron saint for this diet.\xa0 He takes the scroll of scripture and eats it.\xa0 In other words, he doesn\u2019t just read the Bible: he chews it over, swallows it, lets it nourish him and become part of his body and life.\xa0 Far from leaving him in uncertainty or with canned, abstract truths, this scripture-diet brought John a vision of heaven on earth in new creation where all things are set right and made new by our Lord Jesus Christ.\xa0 Maybe that\u2019s a diet worth trying.

\xa0