It's a strange wrap-up to the Christmas season, news-wise. Sure, there's the usual report card from business people about whether we're spending enough, a whole project about which I'm growing increasingly dubious. Sure, there's the usual human interest stories that percolate this time of year: snow, stolen goods, charitable giving. Sure, there's the usual movie reviews, top 10 book lists, and general ranking of things that happened in the last twelve months.
But to end up, right before Christmas, hearing so much about lame ducks (a phrase that still brings me joy to hear), don't ask don't tell, and nuclear disarmament? Hm. What an interesting world.
Mostly, it reminds me of how complicated the world is. A lame duck congress is supposed to be good for nothing, and yet its very finitude (they're all going home, and some of them for good) spurs them on to try and work through difficult things rather that strategizing and manipulating. The very thing that makes it 'lame' (and, I suppose, a 'duck') is the very thing that finally let them dialogue and debate. Despite what the news media is saying today as it tries to sum up everything into big headlines, like "Christmas has come early (NPR)" or "Republicans back down (NYT)" or, "From Shellacking to Success (Washington Post)" or "Season of Progress" (Fox), I don't think any of it sums up well. The narrative here is not nearly so brief, punchy. It's complicated, a triumph of persistence in part, but also the only time of year no one is campaigning. I could make similar comments about Don't Ask Don't Tell--an ambiguous success on some level (really? Is our life so bad that we have to applaud ourselves for allowing gays to state their identity before we let them die for us? Really? And yet, it is progress for us), and I could say something similar about nuclear disarmament--a foot in the door is great, but it's also only a foot in the door.
As we run up to Christmas, I find myself grateful for all these things. Our faith informs and transforms our politics as Christians, and these are causes worth being involved in--the treatment of one another as human beings, the dialogue necessary to govern a nation, the tiny steps toward peace. And yet, as I reflect on the complexity of these stories, I find myself thinking again and again about the role of the church in the modern world. Specifically: what if our stories don't fit in bullet points? What if complexity is necessary to human life, to human community? How can media teach complexity?
I wonder if we could all give ourselves a Christmas present and turn off the media for a few days this year. Not because media is bad, not because staring at a screen is bad, not because learning is bad--but because maybe life is not as simple as what fits on my monitor, because life requires reflection and not only action. Because we need some time to reflect, and not only to move on to the next human interest story (alligators in the sewer!). And most of all, because God is surprisingly bigger than the talking points.
