We've been talking about a lot of pretty heavy stuff here at Central over the last couple of weeks. We've reflected on murder and evil and war and peace and we've spent a fair bit of time reflecting on how far the world is from what God intended the world to be. A couple of weeks ago I noted the dichotomy that exists between perception and reality: the surveys that show that people believe the world is becoming more dangerous but the statistics that demonstrate that, in fact, the world is year by year becoming a safer place. The reality is that perhaps we are edging closer and closer to what God originally wanted and to what God has promised will one day be recreated. We are, however, inundated it seems with bad news. The media don't seem to think a story is noteworthy unless it's a bad news story. When I was a young boy, I used to watch “WUTV – Channel 29 in Buffalo, New York.” It's now just called “FOX-29.” Anyone who grew up in Niagara or has lived in Niagara over the years has probably watched that Channel over the years. I can't actually watch it anymore. We have Bell Satellite at home, and our FOX station comes from Boston. As a kid, though, I watched a lot of WUTV in Buffalo, New York. They had a lot of great children's programming and one other thing I remember from watching those old grainy UHF broadcasts (in the days before cable and satellite, when we still had the famous “rabbit ears” sitting on our TV set) was something called “The Good News Broadcast.” Every day Channel 29 would set aside a few minutes to offer nothing but good news! What a radical concept.. I checked FOX-29's website earlier this week, and I saw no reference to “The Good News Broadcast.” That's too bad, because good news is in such short supply these days it seems.

     It must have been in pretty short supply in the days of the prophet Isaiah as well. In our reading this morning, Isaiah speaks a lot about the wonderful attributes of God and he says clearly that God is worthy of the praise of His people. And why wouldn't the people of God (the followers of a God Who is love and mercy and hope and peace and joy and comfort all wrapped up in one) – a God Who Isaiah says is “our salvation” - give God great praise? Perhaps it's because good news seems in such short supply. And then, as I read the passage more closely, it suddenly struck me that what seems to be a very hopeful and upbeat passage is actually tinged with a very real sense of sorrow. I don't know if you noticed this but I realized that a lot of what Isaiah was saying with in the context of a future event: “In that day you will say.” Why the future tense? The concept of mass media such as we know it today didn't exist, but was it possible that the people of Isaiah's day were also so inundated with bad news that they weren't able to focus on the good things that were happening around them? Did they settle for a trust that one day they'd be able to praise God and give thanks but settle for a sense of despair in the present? Do we sometimes settle for despair, and does our faith sometimes become little more than an anesthetic offering some type of hope for happier days in at an undefined future point in time? Is religion – in the words of Karl Marx – used as little more than an “opiate of the masses” to try to get people to settle for the bad stuff today in return for hope for tomorrow? I hope not, but I wonder. I think we need Channel 29's “Good News Broadcast” back, because it would do our hearts and our spirits good to hear of the good things that happen in the world and the good people who live in our world and maybe it would be an effective counter to some of the fear and despair that so often seems to characterize our lives and our society. In that vein, I want to share the following story. I chanced upon it in the Toronto Star a few days ago. It's from Lower Truro, Nova Scotia:

The phone hasn’t stopped ringing at Allen and Violet Large’s home over news the elderly Nova Scotia couple has given away almost $11.2 million in lottery winnings. Allen Large says they’ve received calls from well-wishers and reporters from across the country since a story about their philanthropy appeared in the Halifax Chronicle Herald today. The Lower Truro couple won their fortune in a July 14 Lotto 649 draw and decided to take care of family and various organizations and institutions instead of spending it on themselves. The story is even drawing interest abroad. A producer with ITV television in London called The Canadian Press today looking to connect with the Larges, and the story is drawing a flood of comments from readers on the Daily Mail’s website in the United Kingdom. Large says he and wife haven’t given away every penny - they’ve put aside about two per cent of the winnings for a rainy day. At the Shillelagh House, a family restaurant in Lower Truro, owner Lori Hingley said her patrons were abuzz with news about the Larges’ generosity. “People who know them just know that’s the type of people they are — they’re just happy to have each other,” Hingley said, adding that most people in the area heard about their giving ways back in the summer when they won the Atlantic Lottery’s Lotto 649. Word spread beyond the small community Thursday when a story was published in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald. “I think people are wondering why they didn’t keep any and treat themselves, but mostly people just think it’s great how generous they were.”

     I find that both heartwarming and hopeful. Heartwarming because it reminds us that there is good and that there are good people in the world. Hopeful because it assures me that where there's one bit of good news or one good person, there must surely be more. The prophet Isaiah identified a lot of things that were worth praising God for: Because God is our salvation, because thanks to God we don't have to be afraid, because we have the strength to face anything, because God is so good we can literally sing for joy. Isaiah said all of those things – but he seemed to say we'd have to wait. “In that day,” he wrote. Whenever “that day” might happen to be. I think I almost prefer someone else's words. I've never heard him referred to as a prophet (not even a modern day prophet) but I think he might have been on to something:

www.youtube.com/watch

     I like what Isaiah said. Surely there's better to come than what we see around us. But – on the other hand – Paul said “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” The author Max Ehrmann wrote that “for all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it's still a beautiful world. Louis Armstrong would have approved of both, and I think maybe even Isaiah would have understood. So, there might well be better still to come – but I really don't think we have to wait for “that day” to offer our praise and thanks to God. I think we can say it today!