大象传媒

A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Revd Dr Mark Clavier, Canon Theologian for the Diocese of Swansea & Brecon.

Good morning. On this day in 1940, Disney animated movie Pinocchio premiered. It鈥檚 fascinating to think of people watching that film in an era replete with competing ideologies based on terrible lies. Many people found it just as hard to discern truth as Pinocchio did to tell the truth.

Eighty-four years later, we find ourselves in a world filled even more with fake news and conspiracy theories.. In such a world, truth comes to be valued lightly and every claim but our own with suspicion. In response to this, many experts say that people need to be better educated.

But I think we need to ask a deeper question: why. Why is it that we want to believe some things and not others? Why is it that we treat some claims cynically while embracing others without engaging our critical faculties? Why?

Asking why moves us into the world of rhetoric, the art of persuasive speaking. And rhetoric confronts us with emotion, motivation, and desire rather than just facts.
If we begin to answer why, we can begin to think about how. How can we foster such love of truth, goodness, and beauty that we鈥檒l yearn for a world in which the most attractive stories all end in love? By demonstrating bravery, unselfishness, and love, Pinocchio became fully human. Therein lies a lesson for us all.

O Lord, God of Truth, whom to serve is perfect freedom; fill us with reverence for all that leads to health and wholeness, and pour on us a spirit of justice, gentleness, and mutual goodwill. Amen.