Newsflash: there’s still time to connect with Christianity

WHAT news draws our attention and what difference does it make to our decisions?

These questions are sparked by my fascination with the analysis of what attracts online readers.

Behind this may lurk a curiosity about what is considered to be newsworthy and what impact that news has.

Henley constituents of their former MP Boris Johnson (2001 to 2008) could not fail to notice how he made news recently.

Football fans could not fail to notice the achievement of treble winners Manchester City, recalling the rarity of such a result last achieved in the 1998/99 season by Manchester United.

Palaeontologists and many children will not have failed to notice the discovery of a new dinosaur species on the Isle of Wight.

The giant armoured reptile belonged to a group of plant-eating dinosaurs known as ankylosaur dating to between 145 and 66 million years ago. It is to be named Vectipelta barretti after Professor Paul Barrett, who has worked at the Natural History Musuem for 20 years.

Is it newsworthy that Christians are named as followers of the person of Jesus Christ, not a religion or denomination?

This is a man with a short “career” in a relatively localised area, an active work of mission and ministry for about three years in Bible accounts.

Is it newsworthy that, unlike fossil bones which are signs of life lost, even extinction, Christians have news of a unique resurrection from death to eternal life?

Is it newsworthy that, unlike the situation for winning footballers holding a trophy for a limited time, Christians have an invitation to a permanent lifestyle that has no entry qualifications, or skills, no competition for inclusion?

It is a team open to all, at any time of life.  

My question is still unanswered — why do we let some news take our time and attention and let others fail to connect?