Staying Connected

It seems as though in these days of Facebook, twitter, blogging, e-mail, text messaging and all over forms of technological advancement, we are more connected to one another than ever.  You can now order a pizza from your cell phone, picking the toppings, and watching the stages of preparation before it is delivered to your home.  You can instantaenosuly send video and pictures of your life to friends and family.  You can read the news from around the globe and call most anywhere in the country without long distance charges.

There are many positive elements about our technological connection.  I enjoy staying in touch with friends, seeing high school buddies get married and have children, sharing files online with other graduates from seminary to help one another navigate our lives of ministry, using my smart phone gps to guide me to the homes of church members I go to visit, and "liking" or commenting on a church member's facebook status as a means of pastoral care.  Technology provides me with ways of keeping in touch and staying organized that go far beyond the possibility of generations ago.

It is possible, however, that in the midst of all this connection, we can become so busy, or so engrossed in technological distraction that we neglect real relationships.  Social media outlets are wonderful for keeping us up to date, but we become voyeur's of other people's lives instead of participants in them.  GPS is wonderful but we miss geographic changes, how different roads connect, and the beauty of the world around us as we stare at the little screen on the dashboard.  A Skype conversation is wonderful but you miss the ability to touch or randomly get up and go on an adventure like you can when you visit in person.

Many of you will notice some technological changes in our church website (one of those being this blog).  We have intentionally tried to find ways to keep you connected technologically to your church.  You can "like" us on Facebook, listen to sermons from past Sundays, read the weekly announcements and the newsletter, and look for upcoming activities in the calendar.

This blog is one instrument we are using so that I am able to stay connected with you, the members of First Presbyterian Church.  My intention with this outlet is to reflect on life in Jefferson City, to think theologically about what is going on in the world around us, to try and utilize our imaginations in thinking about what God is doing here.

For me, then, this blog is a spiritual discipline, to stay connected to the source of our life when it would be easier to finish the to-do list of church activities, schedule another visit, swing by the nursing home, or order the next youth study curriculum.  These activities are important, but if they are done unconnected from the God who claims us and calls us, they devolve into fruitless busyness. 

In my "Wedneday Wondering," therefore, I hope we can reflect together on what God is doing among us, using this technology as a way of staying connected to the one who gives us life.  This forum will be less informational and more devotional, an intentional practice of keeping our eyes and ears and hearts tuned to the song of the Holy Spirit.

So I hope you will be part of this spiritual practice, using this technological connection to connect to your God.  You can "subscribe" to the Wednesday Wondering blog to the right of this text by entering your e-mail address.  You will then receive e-mail notifications when the blog is updated.  Or you can "like" the First Presbyterian Church Jefferson City, Tennessee facebook page and updates on the blog will appear in your newsfeed.

Stay connected, to one another, and to God.  I look forward to continuing to grow together.