The Apostle Paul knew how to connect with people. He would go where the people were to share
the good news and in the first century, this was most often the town
square. Town squares were the
marketplaces and the social gathering places in times past. This is where conversations happened, ideas
were exchanged and debated, and networking took place. For Paul who was “called to be an Apostle and
set apart for good news” (Romans 1: 1) the town square became his favorite
forum, perhaps most famously the Areopagas in Athens.
Town squares are
no longer the center of social discourse and debate. Social media is where people are gathering,
debating, discussing ideas and connecting with others. If you want to be relevant in today’s world
you need to be connected through social media.
Social media is no longer a fad;
it is established in our culture. We are
learning that social media is the best way to share news about our church
family. The new “front door” to the
church is through social media and the web.
The Apostle Paul would be all over Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram. He wrote: “I have become all
things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some.” (1
Corinthians 9: 22) Used effectively,
social media can be a positive and powerful channel for sharing the good news
of Jesus. But, there is a downside.
For many, social media is not
social at all. In fact, studies are
revealing that the more time people spend on social media, the more isolated,
lonely, and depressed they tend to be.
It’s not difficult to see why this is true. Just look around the next time you are in a
restaurant or a public place and see how many people are completely absorbed in
their smartphones. I have observed
families who are eating together, but no one is talking to each other; mother,
father, teenagers, even small children are lost in their own worlds glued to
their phones.
I will be the first to confess
that I am addicted to my phone. The
first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is check for messages and emails. Then I read the news on several different
sites including The Dispatch, look at the weather, check the baseball scores,
and occasionally I will open Facebook to see what everyone else is doing. I can also use my phone to listen to music
and audio books, make hotel and air reservations, monitor how far I walked
during the day, check the exchange rate between the dollar and the Euro, and in
one of my favorite apps, check to see if the moon is waxing or waning! And, oh yes I almost forgot—I can actually
make phone calls! Smartphones have
changed the way we live, but we must be careful that they do not control us or
isolate us, and that is what is happening with too many people.
When God created the heavens and
the earth he rested on the seventh day.
He also established a Sabbath day because he knew that a day of rest, a
time to reconnect with God, to step back and reflect, meditate and worship was
essential to the well being of humankind.
But by Jesus’ day the Sabbath had become a day of duty and obligation. It was controlling and demanding rather than
renewing and liberating. Jesus brought it all into focus when he said, “The
Sabbath was created for humans; humans weren’t created for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2: 27 CEB)
Back when the internet was first
created (Al Gore, right?); it was designed to be a powerful tool to serve
humanity. This has proven to be true
many times over and the advent of social media has only magnified its
power. But when social media becomes
addictive and controlling, when families don’t talk to each other because they
are lost in their Facebook worlds, when social skills are diminished because of
social media, and when we don’t have time to thank God because we are too busy thanking
others for “liking” our posts, it is time for a Sabbath.
You don’t need a smartphone to be
connected with God. In fact, you can
connect much better with God without your device. He knows what you are thinking without you
even having to post it. Try it. You will be surprised what you have been
missing.
