This last week - Wednesday especially- seems to have been particularly violent and difficult, a week in which people with their own agendas have attacked innocent and undefended people. I have found myself concerned with the way that these events have been reported. The Jews of first century Israel would have been largely unconcerned with goings on in Greece, and would not have been willing to consider 12 people from Ephesus as worth their attention, and would not have wanted to include them in their care. St Paul was going very much against the prevailing mood - even amongst followers of Jesus- in working with Greeks. A first century Jewish news service would not have given much space to news from Ephesus, unless it somehow affected or attacked them.
Our news services seem to behave in much the same way. Now, I don't want to give the wrong impression. The events in France this week, the attack at Charlie Hebdo and the subsequent attacks and deaths, are sad, unnecessary, evil. To remember those who have been hurt, to stand by them in prayer and support, is important. But the priorities in reporting, especially on radio and tv, have been biased by our tendency to prioritise the local and the celebrity. We've been told the names of cartoonists who died in headlines, but I wonder how many of you would recognise the name of Frederic Boisseau? I had to search for his name, so I don't blame you if you don't recognise it. Frederic was 42, married with two children. You didn't hear about him in the headlines because he was the caretaker. I am grateful that at least one journalist considered him important enough to find out about. I believe that God values Frederic's life just as much (no more, no less) as the famous satirists and cartoonists who died, and his innocence in death is in some ways even harder to bear, because he did nothing to provoke a gunman to take his life.
While all this was dominating our locally focussed, Eurocentric news, and our Twitter feeds were filling with comments and 'je suis Charlie' statements (I understand that even the Arc de Triomphe is carrying that phrase in lights now), Islamic terrorists were killing others elsewhere in the world. If you rely on tv or radio you won't have heard much, if anything, of the other events, and that is sad. Because every life matters, and the betrayal of God and community by terrorists working in the name of Islam is just as bad whether it happens on our doorstep or somewhere far away.
On Wednesday 37 people were killed and 66 injured in a bomb attack using a minibus parked near a queue of people waiting to enrol at a Police Academy at Sunaa in Yemen. Did this news pass so many people by because it happened further away? Because the victims were mostly Muslim, so not like us? In offices in London editors were deciding that Charlie Hebdo's victims were of greater significance than Sunaa's, but I don't think God will have seen them as less important. The church issued prayers for France. Did it not write prayers for Yemen because violence happens more often there? The grief at loss of mother, brother, daughter, uncle is no less wherever you are. These two events happened on the same day. If you look at the Church of England website you will find prayers for Paris - and quite right too. But nothing for Yemen.
And also on Wednesday another group who claim to operate in the name of Islam, Boko Haram, went on a killing spree in Nigeria. The town of Baga, population 10000, has been razed to the ground, along with a number of nearby villages. At least 2000 people were killed, bodies strewn on the ground like litter. Thousands more, going wherever they could to save themselves, were stranded on nearby islands without any kind of supplies. Help cannot be got to them because of the forces of Boko Haram preventing others getting into the area. Many, many more might die before the crisis is over, and many many people are not accounted for. About 10000 people are believed to have got into neighbouring Chad, facing lives as refugees, having lost everything bar their lives. Perhaps you heard or read something of this, but it happened on the same day as the attack on Charlie Hebdo, and anyway, we are used to hearing news of Boko Haram's outrages : they aren't a novelty, so somehow they don't grab the attention. So perhaps you didn't hear. The prayer writers for the Church of England's website certainly seem to have missed it. The website headlines only offer prayer for Paris. Nothing for Nigeria, despite the severity of its situation. And yet, I believe that Jesus values every one of those 2000 people just as much (no more, no less) as the 17 killed in Paris.
I encourage all of you to read and pray more widely than the radio and TV headlines might direct. Look for the wider news of the places that might matter less to ordinary British people and to editors in their news offices trying to guess what British people will be interested in. Jesus cares about every single life and death, no matter what the nationality or religion or political stance of the person. He cares as much about the plight of the victims in Nigeria and the refugees of Boko Haram as he does about the people of Paris. He cares as much about the victims of the Yemen, and the people I have not mentioned because the length of this sermon would be just too long - those freezing in unusually cold weather in the Middle East, for example, where tens of thousands of people living under canvas having been driven room their homes in Syria, having already lost loved ones to terrorist violence, are now having to deal with freezing rain and low temperatures in situations where they don't necessarily have coats, jumpers or proper footwear. That hasn't made the top headlines this week either, and it would take a very slow news week for it to get there.
Read as widely as you can. Pray widely - you don't need the Church of England to write a prayer for you. I have every confidence that our leaders in the church are praying for all these places, and I hope that you will too. If you are not sure how to pray, keep it simple. Name the places and ask God to have mercy or to give his help - like a personal verse and response - I'll lead you in the sort of thing in a moment. If you are able to write letters of support or take other action, do that too. Charities like World Vision or the Foundation for Relief in the Middle East are working to get warm blankets, food and clothing to the Syrian refugees, and help to those in Chad. As followers of the Son of God, we are called to take an interest in the whole world, not just our bit of it; in all people, not just the celebrities. There are journalists out there reporting the news that we need to hear about, but we may have to dig deeper to find it, and to open our hearts purposefully in order to see the whole world, made and loved by God, and not just the bit of it that we most enjoy.
Prayer response: Lord, please help them and comfort them.
All those hurt or grieving by the attacks in France this week
All those hurt or grieving by the attack in Sunaa this week
All those hurt or grieving by the attacks in and around Baga this week
Those made refugee by the attacks in Baga this week
Those refugees suffering in the cold in the Middle East
Those suffering who we don't know because their news has not reached us, but are known to you, Jesus.
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