Pointing listeners to God

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Today is Monday, August 9th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Paul Butler.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Have you ever wondered how the program got its name, or where the theme song came from?

One more time, here’s former senior producer and WORLD Radio co-founder Joseph Slife.

JOSEPH SLIFE: The program got its name because I was reading the scriptures, which is a good thing to do. And Nick had invited me up to talk about this program idea, invited me up to Asheville. And I had just read Psalm 89. And in verse 11, it talks about the world and about the Lord, he has founded the world and everything in it. And I thought, you know, that's a really good name for this program that Nick is talking about doing.

The name, All Things Considered, which comes from G.K. Chesterton by the way, had already been taken up many years before byslack.com National Public Radio. And I was trying to come up with something that was kind of like that. And to find this scriptural phrase, the world and everything in it, which is also in Acts 17, by the way, so it's in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament. It's in Acts 17 where Peter is speaking on Mars Hill, and proclaiming the unknown God. And so I thought, you know, this, this gives us such great rails to run on, because this program can be about the world, and everything in it from the context of the God who founded it, to this God who is unknown to most of our culture. But everything in the world is something that he that he created, or is there because of his creative activity.

And we also wanted to stress the idea, and this is very important to me, that this program is not about how terrible things are. And we all know that things are terrible in many ways. And the news is often very sad. The news is often very concerning. But nonetheless, there is the God of the universe, who is working out his plans and purposes to a good end. And we can always be confident in that. And we can always be joyful, we can enjoy the things that are around us that are good and noble, and of good report. And so we wanted to make sure that the program not only gave the news of the day, which is often not good, but also had this overarching idea that God is in control. And we can live confidently and we can be happy warriors. And because this is his world, and everything in it.

AUDIO: THIS IS MY FATHER'S WORLD

JOSEPH: The theme music for The World and Everything in It comes from a hymn that many people know. It's in many, many hymnals. It's called, This Is My Father's World. And the reason that we chose that music is the tune is actually called Terra Biata, good earth. And this connects to this whole idea that the world is God's world. And he is superintending this world. And he made this world good. So this is the good earth.

But the reason in particular that I chose that theme is because there's a lyric in I think is the third verse of This Is My Father's World that says, "and though the wrong seems oft so strong, he is the ruler yet." And this is the the idea that we wanted to convey with this program. That though we hear about all this stuff that is so wrong, God is still in control. He is still the ruler yet.

MUSIC: THIS IS MY FATHER'S WORLD

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