Are you as confused as I am about how we are meant to engage
with God in this thoroughly secular world, this ‘rebellious house’?
The things I hear about, read about, think about, and
occasionally preach about, scream out for theological engagement – talking about
God – for talking about God is what Christians are meant to do.
Since I’m crammed full of ignorance, this blog is one way I
reach out to find who God wants me to be, and what he wants me to do about it.
It is my way of being seen to prepare for exile (Ezekiel 12:4).
Perhaps you too are as bemused, befuddled, and bewildered as
I am. Join me for the ride!
Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Thursday, 30 August 2012
Tweet Tweet
What do you think of the idea of a member of a congregation using social media during a service? Specifically, how would you feel if someone was composing tweets during a funeral?
A few days ago I heard someone say they had done just that. Part of me was appalled, and part of me was excited. The part that was appalled was thinking of issues such as ‘privacy’, ‘courtesy’, ‘taste’, ‘concentration’, ‘engagement’ and related issues that argue against sharing the contents of divine worship as it happens. The other part of me was reflecting positively on ‘accessibility’, ‘normalization’ (which is to say, that worship should be just as acceptable a topic for live chat as any other on social media), and that old chestnut ‘evangelization’.
The context for this revelation was a debate at Greenbelt 2012 called ‘Finding Your Own Digital Paradise’. The talk touched on a number of topics, from multimedia worship to multiple online profiles, the latter being held in some contempt as ‘not being oneself’.
I begged to disagree, since I believe that multiple accounts are a courtesy to those styled ‘followers’ in this online age. It is not a case of having a split personality, or of wishing to hide one’s ‘true self’, whatever that is. But this blog which I style An Exiles Baggage contains content which readers of my three other blogs may have little interest in, for example, and the same goes for my two Twitter accounts. Together with my (sole) Facebook profile, I deliberately limit the topics or genre of my communications through these identities so as to form channels which from a follower’s perspective are relatively free of noise. And noise is something we get a lot of in the digital age but with which we seem unwilling to learn how to deal.
Which brings me back to the idea of tweeting from a service. For some, including the minister, this may feel intrusive. That someone may appear focused not on the main activity at hand, but on tapping at their smart phone or tablet screen, could be distracting to others. But in a different workshop I took part in at Greenbelt, I joined an exercise in creative writing during which very loud music was played. The point of that exercise, which was something of a struggle, was that unless we can teach ourselves to write under adverse conditions, we are not worthy of the title ‘writer’.
As with creative writing, so too with church. If we struggle to engage with God in the relative peace of services of worship, tweeting, farting, or noisy children notwithstanding, then how will we ever hold on to the mantle of Jesus with which we try to clothe ourselves in the bustling secular world? It is surely not the back-pew tweeter that is the problem, but our own lack of focus as Christians.
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| Temptation is just a tweet away ... |
What do you think of the idea of a member of a congregation using social media during a service? Specifically, how would you feel if someone was composing tweets during a funeral?
A few days ago I heard someone say they had done just that. Part of me was appalled, and part of me was excited. The part that was appalled was thinking of issues such as ‘privacy’, ‘courtesy’, ‘taste’, ‘concentration’, ‘engagement’ and related issues that argue against sharing the contents of divine worship as it happens. The other part of me was reflecting positively on ‘accessibility’, ‘normalization’ (which is to say, that worship should be just as acceptable a topic for live chat as any other on social media), and that old chestnut ‘evangelization’.
The context for this revelation was a debate at Greenbelt 2012 called ‘Finding Your Own Digital Paradise’. The talk touched on a number of topics, from multimedia worship to multiple online profiles, the latter being held in some contempt as ‘not being oneself’.
I begged to disagree, since I believe that multiple accounts are a courtesy to those styled ‘followers’ in this online age. It is not a case of having a split personality, or of wishing to hide one’s ‘true self’, whatever that is. But this blog which I style An Exiles Baggage contains content which readers of my three other blogs may have little interest in, for example, and the same goes for my two Twitter accounts. Together with my (sole) Facebook profile, I deliberately limit the topics or genre of my communications through these identities so as to form channels which from a follower’s perspective are relatively free of noise. And noise is something we get a lot of in the digital age but with which we seem unwilling to learn how to deal.
Which brings me back to the idea of tweeting from a service. For some, including the minister, this may feel intrusive. That someone may appear focused not on the main activity at hand, but on tapping at their smart phone or tablet screen, could be distracting to others. But in a different workshop I took part in at Greenbelt, I joined an exercise in creative writing during which very loud music was played. The point of that exercise, which was something of a struggle, was that unless we can teach ourselves to write under adverse conditions, we are not worthy of the title ‘writer’.
As with creative writing, so too with church. If we struggle to engage with God in the relative peace of services of worship, tweeting, farting, or noisy children notwithstanding, then how will we ever hold on to the mantle of Jesus with which we try to clothe ourselves in the bustling secular world? It is surely not the back-pew tweeter that is the problem, but our own lack of focus as Christians.
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