Pray through the news
A classic ever since the theologian Karl Barth told students to approach the life of faith with “the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other”.
So, once a week, sit down with a decent news website (or be really retro and buy a newspaper!) – one that will show you what’s going on around the world as well as at home – and simply ask God to let you see the world through Jesus’ eyes.
- Take some time to get involved in the stories.
- Pick one to read in depth and then bring to God in prayer – spoken or silent.
- Then ask yourself if you want to do anything in response. Write it down.
*Fun facts for nit-pickers – The Barth Center of Princeton Seminary finds it hard to pin down an actual example of this exact quote by Barth, though it is undoubtedly true to his spirit. And blogger Jon Parker has an interesting thought spinning off this quote in a world where newspapers are on the decline.
