Saturday, August 14, 2010
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Friday, August 13, 2010
Come Follow Me
Attending a conference on sharing the Gospel in a 2.0 world has its share of thoroughly expectable moments. Photos of last night's forum live on Facebook this morning. Countless people, across the generations, are fact-checking, time-killing and cross-talking on high tech smartphones throughout the crowd. One of the presenters gets an audible text alert on stage. The lobby is full of lap-toppers, winging their way across the internet, writing articles (as I am this very moment) and networking with the person across the table and across the country all at the same time.
We're twitchy, twittery, super connected. Though never more connected than in a moment of mystery that takes place when all the blinking, beeping things are silenced. When we go off the grid to that sacred space where the only long-distance communication is from writers who are thousands of years dead, from prayers that were crafted by people who couldn't imagine a light bulb, much less a computer, from a God who longs for us to read this one instant message. “This is my body for you. Come and eat, you're going to need strength for this journey.”
Whether like like a sudden tumble or the upside-down doorway that alerts us to a dream, Eucharist is this powerful reminder that the seemingly dull world we make our way through is not all that there is. We may be asleep to who we are, to the needs of our neighbor, to the reign of God breaking through our defenses. When Jesus calls out our name, calls to us through our dreaming, stumbling existence, we are shaken awake. “This is me, here now for you, follow me.” Like a people walking around staring at our shoelaces, we get to look up and see the amazing world and the incredible people that surround us. And because its scary and daunting to really see the need all around, Christ provides us with sustenance.
Without worship, a conference on reaching young adults in a 2.0 world might is easily lost on diatribes on iPhones, real language, cultural commuting, evangelical tattoos, liturgically colored earrings and the like. With worship though, we are reminded that sharing the Gospel is at the heart of who we are. Regardless of whether we are running version 2.0, 1.0 or some beloved old 0.08. The Gospel is for all. After all, Jesus called you and called me. That was a pretty radical place to start, who knows who he might call through us.
We're twitchy, twittery, super connected. Though never more connected than in a moment of mystery that takes place when all the blinking, beeping things are silenced. When we go off the grid to that sacred space where the only long-distance communication is from writers who are thousands of years dead, from prayers that were crafted by people who couldn't imagine a light bulb, much less a computer, from a God who longs for us to read this one instant message. “This is my body for you. Come and eat, you're going to need strength for this journey.”
Whether like like a sudden tumble or the upside-down doorway that alerts us to a dream, Eucharist is this powerful reminder that the seemingly dull world we make our way through is not all that there is. We may be asleep to who we are, to the needs of our neighbor, to the reign of God breaking through our defenses. When Jesus calls out our name, calls to us through our dreaming, stumbling existence, we are shaken awake. “This is me, here now for you, follow me.” Like a people walking around staring at our shoelaces, we get to look up and see the amazing world and the incredible people that surround us. And because its scary and daunting to really see the need all around, Christ provides us with sustenance.
Without worship, a conference on reaching young adults in a 2.0 world might is easily lost on diatribes on iPhones, real language, cultural commuting, evangelical tattoos, liturgically colored earrings and the like. With worship though, we are reminded that sharing the Gospel is at the heart of who we are. Regardless of whether we are running version 2.0, 1.0 or some beloved old 0.08. The Gospel is for all. After all, Jesus called you and called me. That was a pretty radical place to start, who knows who he might call through us.
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