CHURCH SOCIAL 6-17-17

REFLECTIONS ON FAITH AND LIFE FOR THE YEARS OF WINTER

CHURCH SOCIAL    6-17-17

Not long ago I had to miss church on Sunday morning for medical reasons. So I thought I would look at pictures of Sunday morning worship and other church events on the internet. If you do a Google or Bing search you can come up with hundreds of interesting images. By looking only at pictures, you don’t have to listen to someone else’s misbegotten theology.

I searched for “church worship” and “people going to church” and “old church buildings” and saw some nice images. It’s easy to switch from one category to another because the search engine gives you similar category names to click on at the top of the page. One was “church social.” I thought, “Great. I’ll do a short worship service and go to the church potluck after.” NOT!

In this age and era, “social” does not mean “people gathering together” but “people all by themselves using social media devices,” like iphones and ipads and ipods and ilonelies. “Church social” did not bring up potlucks, just stuff about “social media in the church.”

Isn’t it interesting that “social,” even in the church, has come to mean the exact opposite? I suspect the church does not need to use social media more effectively, despite the plethora of books and articles that explains why and how to do so. The church does not need social media, but it does need to be social. People can do without social media, but we can’t do without the social.

JRMcF

johnrobertmcfarland@gmail.com

I have told no one, even my wife, that I am writing again, so if you were a CIW regular in former days, welcome back. If you arrived here by accident, welcome. Just don’t expect too much…