The following is an excerpt from the sermon delivered by the Reverend Everton Jackson at the Calvary Baptist Church on Sunday, November 29. The church hosted media practitioners, who were commencing the observance of National Journalism Week.

Today is a special day for the Christian Church as we observe the first Sunday in Advent - a time of anticipation, expectation and hope. This Lord's day is not only a special day for the Christian community, but also for the members of the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ), who are sharing worship with us this morning. I wish for you a productive week of activities.

It is a known fact that the media, being one of the critical agents of socialisation, provide information, education and entertainment through printed and electronic means. Such a function, undoub-tedly, causes the media to be more destructive than constructive in terms of its impact, if it does not exercise responsibility. It is, therefore, of paramount importance that those in the media execute their duties with due care, discernment and wisdom.

However, it is undeniable that, in every fraternity, there are those who abide by the rules and those who break the rules. And so, it is not surprising that even in the media, there are those who are more of a liability than an asset to the media fraternity and the wider society due to irresponsible journalism.

time for self-reflection

As you meet today in worship, I encourage those who are making a positive impact on the society to continue to do so amid the odds, and never to give in to cheap popularity at the expense of professionalism. To those who show scant regard for what is brought into the public square, I say, stop and think of the catastrophic impact your unprofessional behaviour is having on the young and vulnerable and the society at large. I implore those who fall in this category to use this week for self-reflection, renewal and change.

On this Advent Sunday that marks the beginning of a week of activities for the Press Association, Paul has a sobering yet penetrating thought for us recorded in the Book of Philippians 4:8: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praise-worthy - think about these things." My charge to us today is, think on these things.

Paul knew that the Philippian Christians could not have escaped the influences of the pagan world within which they were called to live out the holiness of God and to make a difference. And so, he provided them with sound advice as to how to live in such a world without being tainted. His encouragement to them was not to lock themselves away in order to avoid contact with non-believers. Instead, he urged them to adopt the good and admirable qualities, if any were found in the pagan society, and not to be caught up in the vain and godless things of the world. In effect, he was saying: learn the good from the worst of situations and discard the bad. It is against this backdrop that we must understand Paul's admonition this morning: if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Of a fact, truth, nobility, rightness, purity and loveliness are admirable qualities worth emulating in any culture or society. In this passage, Paul presents us with a caution and a challenge.

The caution

The caution that Paul presents to us this morning is to guard against being sucked in by the dominant culture of godlessness. The dominant culture of the Philippian Christian was marked by the opposite of what Paul commended to them to adapt. It was a society of deceit, lies, impurity, ugliness and despicable characters. When our society is analysed, the truth is we seem not too far off from the world of the Philippians. There are many things happening in our society that make us so uncomfortable and concerned. Ours is a culture of lawlessness, vulgarity, lewdness and crudeness. Ours is a culture of secularism in which truth, morality and values are relativised.

the 'me generation'

The community spirit has been replaced by a rugged type of individualism that has given birth to what I call a 'me generation', constructed on the axioms of the I, me and myself. In this culture, we are faced with a multiplicity of moral frames of reference, with the media occupying a very prominent position while the Church is struggling to maintain her position as the predominant shaper of public morality and consciousness.

Ours is a culture of the dons - scam dons, drug dons, music dons and gun dons - many of whom are living high-profile lives and benefiting from media exposure from time to time. Ours is a culture of corruption in high and low places, ours is a culture of violence, with the gun barking indiscriminately and creating a climate of fear and apathy. Certainly, this type of culture is fertile ground for the sprouting of deceit, lies, impurity, ugliness and despicable characters.

And so, the caution comes to us this morning from the word of God to not be sucked into this kind of culture, but rather to adopt a posture of protest by our own resolve of non-participation. Too often, in order to fit in the popular crowd, we compromise our standards and play the music of the marketplace. God's people in the media, at the workplace, in the boardroom, in Parliament, in the security forces, and in the society at large, must dare to be difficult. It is time for us to stand up and be counted. I call upon us not to sacrifice nobility, right, truth, purity, loveliness and admirable qualities for cheap popularity-based morality and perishable materialism.

The caution not to be sucked in by this culture is an implicit challenge to make a difference by embracing the very opposite of that which seems repulsive. We must replace the culture of lawlessness with a culture of order and decency. We must replace the culture of secularism with a culture of godliness. We must replace the culture of dons with a culture of neighbours. We must replace the culture of corruption with a culture of honesty and justice. We must replace the culture of violence with a culture of peace and love.

The challenge

Paul did not only issue a caution to us this morning, but he issued a two-fold challenge. He recommends, first, a focus on positivity over negativity. All the virtues identified by Paul are of a positive nature. In other words, his challenge to the Philippian Christians was to focus on those things that were praiseworthy. The same challenge has come to us this morning - a challenge to focus on the positive and not the negative, a challenge to give visibility to those things that are praiseworthy and not those things that are demeaning and repulsive.

This challenge is timely in a society that is being fed with an overdose of negative news. Our television screen is plastered with sex and violence, not even the cartoons are spared. Publishers have realised that sex and violence sell magazines, books and newspapers, and so, they, like many, are content in being politically correct by giving the people what they want and not so much what they need.

Go to the Internet and you find all kinds of sites filled with hate literature against people of other races or nationalities, sites that are devoted to pornography from both sides of the sex divide.

Negativity seems to be the order of the day. I am not suggesting in the least that we should not give any attention to the negative things of life. I am only positing that there needs to be greater focus on the positive side of life.

We all have a part to play in transforming this culture of negativity into a culture of positivity. This is what the Christian doctrine of transformation is all about. In Jesus Christ, God looks beyond our faults and sees our needs and potential. In Jesus Christ, the blind received sight; the dumb, speech; the deaf, hearing; the dead, life and the paralysed leapt for joy.

This is a picture of reversal, reflecting the positive side of life. And so there is hope, my brothers and sisters, for our ailing economy. However, we all have to get on the positive side. There is hope for the homosexuals, the gamblers, the drug addicts and the dons. There is hope for the bruised and crushed. No one is beyond the transforming power of God in Christ through the Holy Spirit.

choose virtue

Paul's challenge to us is not only to focus more on the praiseworthy things of life, but also to choose virtue over expediency. In other words, don't try to make life by whatever means. Don't sacrifice virtue in the name of survival. Regrettably, too many of our people have put on hold their decency, their integrity and their better judgement just to broaden their security or status base.

Many have lied their way to the top, many have thieved their way to the top, many have negotiated systems of checks and balances just to get to the top, many have climbed on the backs of others to get to the top. But what the world considers a blessing is a curse to God. Anything that is achieved by dishonourable and illicit means will not last forever. Can we pledge today never ever to sacrifice virtue for expediency? Never forget, virtue is priceless and under no circumstance should it be bartered.