Exodus 17:14 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this as a reminder in a book and recite it in the hearing of Joshua: I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven."
Isaiah 30:8 Go now, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, so that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever.
Luke 1:3 I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
1 Corinthians 16:21 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.
THE HORROR!!! Microsoft Outlook crashed yesterday and millions were unable to access their (our/my) email for hours. My own email was inaccessible from about 10:30am until some time early this morning. I was cut off from the outside world for hours. Thankfully, I was able to access my email from my smartphone and my tablet. Can you imagine not being able to read all of those ads, all of the spam, all of the dire pleas for money?
I love to see the look on our grandchildren’s faces when I tell them I never saw my own parents make a long-distance telephone call. I have pretty much given up on trying to tell them about rotary dial, black, corded telephones. I suspect they are rolling their eyes behind my back when I mention that I learned to type on a manual typewriter.
One of my favorite tropes is that one never lives in the world in which one was raised. Every news program I saw or heard yesterday mentioned the crash of Outlook. I admit, I was mildly discomforted, slightly inconvenienced. Yet, almost half of my adult life and working career was spent without any access to computers or email. I wrote notes and memos, I talked to others in person or over the telephone.
I can remember my introduction to email. I was working on a project involving facilities in the U.S.A., Canada, Germany and Australia. I was resident in my client’s offices, and that client had this ‘thing’ called email. I could send my notes, memos and questions to everyone involved in the project during normal business hours for my location. They could read my notes, memos and questions when they got to work for their normal business hours, respond and/or comment, and I could then read their missives when I next came to work. What a marvelous idea!
I defy anyone older than 50 to fully explain to anyone younger than 50 what life was like before the advent of computers. Try to explain to any young person that the earliest computers were housed in multi-storied buildings. Even when they read the (ancient) history books describing the space race to land a man on the moon, it seems inconceivable to them that it was all done with slide rules and hand calculations. Yet, somehow, the sun came up each morning in the east; the air was already ‘turned on’ when we all arose in the mornings.
I am writing this on my laptop computer. When finished, I will email this to a list of those who prefer to read it via email, then I will post this on my Facebook page, on our church’s Facebook page and on the church’s website. I will fully (?) utilize the capabilities of my computer, including the spell check and grammar check. Admittedly, I often disagree with the suggestions offered by both and by Copilot. I love the ease and convenience of computers and technology.
Yesterday and today, however, I am reminded of the history of technology and of communication. People have written and communicated for centuries. We have shared ideas and events since people first began to develop societies. The techniques and devices have changed, but all of our progress in communication was developed using older techniques and devices.
The Bible was not (originally) written on a computer. My computer does have an excellent (although dated and no longer supported) Bible software. I use that software daily. When I want to read scripture, however, I always default to one of the many printed Bibles on my bookshelves. I still prefer to read a printed newspaper and I still read printed books.
Maybe more significantly, I still talk to people in person and on a landline telephone. And, even more significantly, I still talk to God through prayer. God does not have an email address; God does not have a Facebook page; God does not have a website. None of us require any electronic devices to speak directly to the Creator of Creation.
Embrace technology, use technology to advance the Kingdom of God, trust God,
Pastor Ray