Thought for Today
Exodus 3:12 He said, "I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain."
Psalm 22:27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.
Matthew 4:10 Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"
Acts 18:13 They said, "This man is persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to the law."
Yesterday, Christians throughout Christendom gathered for worship. Our congregation is no different. I have previously shared our summer tradition of sharing worship in July and August with a sister congregation of the same faith tradition. Yesterday, as has been the long-standing tradition in August, we hosted them. While there are small differences in our Orders of Worship, they are very similar and the same would be true throughout our faith tradition.
During the COVID pandemic, many congregations of our denomination, and many congregations of other traditions adopted a new element, some form of sharing worship via social media. Some live stream worship; some post recorded services. During the social distancing of the pandemic, it was a way for us to continue to worship ‘together.’ Many of us found it a poor substitute . . . but it was a safe substitute. Then and now, however, it has been an invaluable aid to many who are unable to physically attend services in person.
Regrettably, yesterday, we ran into a glitch. Wonderful as our modern technology is, sometimes things go wrong. One of my favorite engineering jokes is that ‘if nothing ever goes wrong, the product doesn’t have enough features.’ That wasn’t exactly the problem we had yesterday. The personal computer on which we usually host the live streaming of our service did malfunction. That computer was unable to locate the church’s wi-fi network and thus was unable to log on to the program we use for live streaming. The network was there and operating correctly. We were able to log onto the network with the tablet next to the pulpit and were thus able to live stream the service. But those who worshiped with us online could not see the scripture passages or the words to the hymns as they would normally.
It is hard to find references to technology in the Bible. Technologically, we live in a vastly changed world from the world into which Jesus came as the Messiah. Christians gather in churches. Jesus worshiped in a synagogue, συναγωγὴ (soon ah go gay) in Greek. The only technology in a 1st century synagogue would have been the Torah scrolls in the Ark at the front of the synagogue. Those would have been handwritten on either parchment, processed animal skins, or papyrus, a cellulose-based paper. Normally, yesterday, our scriptures would have been shown online electronically.
For the last 2000+ years, Christianity has struggled with incorporating technology into worship, with adapting ‘modern’ technology to be used as a tool to aid in our worship of God. Some of the struggles have proved more difficult and/or more contentious than others. Christians have fussed, fumed, argued and even fought over the issues of translating the Bible into languages other than the ‘originals,’ of the use of printing presses, of the use of various media such as radio and television.
Today, we have a wealth of various ways of sharing our faith. The Bible is available in almost every language spoken on our planet. It is available electronically and printed in various sizes, shapes, colors and a multiplicity of translations and paraphrased editions. Even during in person worship together we use sound systems, including the new lapel microphone our congregation recently added. Some congregations use projectors to enhance their worship experience.
For some, the medium may truly be the message. For us as Christians, the medium remains a tool for the greater message. The true message of our faith, the gospel, is that God so loves the world and all of Creation that God sent Jesus to show us the Way.
Hopefully, yesterday’s computer glitch did not mask or muddle the Message.
Stay safe, love and worship God, trust God,
Pastor Ray