First up, I wanted to say, very sadly, that the publisher of my book has closed down, and that if you go over to Amazon to try to buy it, you will have to sift through a variety of used copies. I am grieved about this, of course, but am trying to stick my courage to the whatever kind of post that is, and do something about it, rather than taking it a Sign From God, which was my first inclination. There is, probably, hope for my little effort, in some form or other. It will mean patience. If you wanted a new copy right now, all I can say is, Sorry! Complain to God. It may be that he will help me sort it out. Meanwhile, I am eating cold tater tots and preparing for a True and Disconsolate Lent.
And now on to the regular order of the day. A dear friend alerted me to this long and very depressing piece about what it’s like to work as a content moderator for Facebook. Or rather, not for Facebook, but for some external company with whom Facebook contracts so that they don’t have to pay very much money to the people who have to look at every single foul post flagged by Facebook users. Ordinary people sit at soulless computer consoles, clicking on what may be a benign prank, or maybe a gruesome murder, or may be something unspeakable done to a child, or may be anything. Eight hour days with a goal of something like 400 flagged posts, endured with a couple of fifteen minute breaks and a half hour ‘lunch.’ Oh, and 9 minutes of ‘wellness’ time if you need to step away from your desk because of something horribly traumatic you just saw on your screen. Turns out having that job can leave you with PTSD, anxiety, and a generalized inability to cope with life any more.
It is an interesting piece in light of this—Faith McDonnell’s reinstatement to her Facebook account. I love the way she closes,
Now, dear friends, I ask you to please show the same righteous outrage and exert the same energy for the truly persecuted. Let this reminder of their circumstances, their martyrdoms, their imprisonments, their tortures, and their enslavement never leave you. Speak of them with pride and sorrow and passion as you would of your own friends and family on Facebook. And wear, with humble, joyful awareness, the mystical oneness we have with those who suffer in the Body of Christ as it were your own orange prison jumpsuit and your own chains.
She has some excellent practical advice about living in the world of Facebook overall, and backing up your data (boy that sounds daunting) and trusting a sovereign and good God. You should read the whole thing.
What strikes me this morning—veritably across the face, but really the soul—is that it doesn’t do to be overcome by evil. That is not the Christian call. Yesterday we all read the news of the US Senate failing to reject infanticide (read THIS), and maybe, like me, you watched with wonder as the United Methodist Church voted, and can anyone believe this really happened?!, to uphold the biblical definition of marriage and standard of sexuality. It was a surreal day.
Oh, and if you click over to my post yesterday and read the comments, lots, or maybe three, people feel like I was unfair to AOC. One commenter says, and I quote, “having more children than you can properly raise is a sin.” Actually, of all the sins listed in the Bible—and there are many—that isn’t one of them. Defrauding the poor is one, having unjust measures is another, lying certainly is, being an idolater absolutely is, and, for purposes of this country, offering your children up to death to a false god is enough to find yourself “vomited” out of the place you live.
Do not be overcome by evil, says God some places in the Bible. But overcome evil with good. Don’t flail. Don’t give up. Don’t launch yourselves backwards onto your couch and drown your anxiety in Netflix and wine time. But stand up, bow your whole being in prayer, implore the God who made you and who takes care of you to have mercy on whom he will have mercy.
If you also want to suggest to God that the best thing for Mark Zuckerberg would be to take a three week shift at one of those computer consoles, clicking endlessly—himself—through the putrid mess of depraved humanity, I will be joining you. If you want to pray for the hearts of Americans to be turned toward their children, the ones who are living and who are dying day by day, I will join you. If you want to pray for a strengthened UM church, I will absolutely join you. If you want to pray for yourself to be able to face the small difficulties of life with courage, grace, mercy, and compassion, I am with you all the way.
But most importantly, if you are really praying to Jesus—the true and risen Lord who took on our sorrows, griefs, and most importantly, our hideous and destructive sin, bearing it all the way to the cross, overcoming it by the power of his resurrection, bearing us in his heart before the Father day and night—He is with you. And that, for today, is what you need the most. And by you, I mean me, but also you.
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