It was not always horses doing the carrying, however. The Arabs later pioneered the use of pigeons. The Greek city-states reserved some of their loftiest poetry for the mind-boggling feats of their athlete-runners. They were known as Hemerodromes and were often called into service when a very important message was to delivered. Philonides, the courier and surveyor for Alexander the Great, once ran from Sicyon to Elis – 148 miles – in a day.
-John Freeman, The Tyranny of E-mail, p. 27
The way we give and receive news has changed drastically in the past 100 years – even the past 20 years. Have we now come to the point that we should say,
How beautiful are the fingers of him at his desk who types good news, who texts peace, who blogs salvation, who tweets to Zion, ‘your God reigns’? (see Isaiah 52:7).
And if so, what are the implications? Is there no place left for the runner? For the herald?
Perhaps our love for the preached Word will make us all the more different. Perhaps our desire for face-to-face conversation and engagement will make us stand out in a new way. Perhaps our desire to continue holding hymnbooks made out of real paper will make us counter-cultural. Perhaps our desire to enter a sanctuary with no plasma will set us apart. Perhaps real messengers will indeed stand out as beautiful again in the midst of a sea of machinery and media.
How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
Who says to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”
