Keeping up with Church

The following poem chronicles a 70+ year old woman's 

adventure in keeping up with church in 2019.

"Follow us now!

We'll tell you how.

Get our app.

It's a snap.  

Tell your friends."

(It never ends.)

"Visit the store.

Buy some more.

We're on live!

Come and jive.

Podcasts too,

with Who's Who!

And giving is easy."

(Stop.  I'm dizzy.) 

9/13/2019

rlg

One Old Lady's Perspective on Technology

One more podcast

One more link

"Cut time online"

"Don't miss a beat"

It's quite contradictory, don't you think?

"Follow me, text me"

Until I'm perplexed

Whatever are they going to

Think of posting next?

In my aging viewpoint

It's getting out of hand

In the country, in the town,

In the church, and all across our land. 

Only so many hours

In a person's day.

How did we survive

Before technology came to play?

God...Somehow

"Just reading about the New Jerusalem with no more years or pain.  That promise should keep me going.  And so much more besides!"  Months of physical pain were the background for her text to me this morning.

"Yes," I responded to her message.  With a smiley face I acknowledged the typo in her comment, adding, "Neither years NOR tears!

"Some pastor suggested we'd be in our prime forever, and that's attractive once we've passed it."  she replied.

"HAHAHAHAHA!  HOW TRUE,"  wrote I, my shift key stuck in the capital position.  "I HAVE wondered about that actually..."

"I have too.  For the elderly whom we've only known as elderly and the young whom we've only known as young, prime is puzzling.  We'll recognize one another so God will work it all out somehow,"  she posited.

"God...Somehow.  I think we should write a book with this title!"

"Go for it!"  she directed.

Perhaps this WILL be the forward for just such a book--

a book with many chapters.

Each of them laced with examples of

God...Somehow! 

Have YOU a chapter?

Mercy

I left off my journaling yesterday 

"Pondeirng, wondering....is 'mercy' my word for 2016???"

I woke up this morning and was greeted by Eugene Peterson's tweet.

Apparently so!

Mercy it is.

Interestingly, long ago I took a spiritual gift inventory and was surprised 

that it identified mercy as my spiritual gift.

I guess it's time to "stir up" or "fan into flame"

 that gift with vigorous intentionality.

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, 

which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 

(2 Timothy 1:6-7)

I'll look forward to seeing if YOU  select a word for 2016
and what it is...
Happy New Year.

Hitting the Books

 Sunday, the 20th of September, we made a spontaneous five-hour trip

to attend the affirmation (installation) service for our son who will pastor

the Grace Fellowship congregation in El Paso, IL. 

(That's him in the middle with his family.)

After lunch at Pizza Hut and a few table games with our grandchildren,

we returned to the church to help unpack boxes and boxes of books

and hang a couple of pictures on the walls of his new office.

 I didn't return home empty-handed.

I'm very excited to begin on this stack...
actually, the Anne Lamott book and one of Buechner's are ours.
(Must have loaned them to him.)

I've gotten a bit slack in my reading habits.

I blame this on my laptop computer with its ease of access to blogs, facebook and twitter.

I've begun reading the diaries of Dorothy Day already and am alternating

between it and The Bookseller (Mark Pryor), a library book recommended to me by a friend.

Have you read any of these?  

And what are you reading now?

"If you cannot read all your books, at any rate handle, or as it were fondle them-peer into them, 

let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye, 

set them back on their shelves with your own hands,

 arrange them on your own plan so that if you do not know what is in them, 

you at least know where they are. Let them be your friends, 

let them at any rate be your acquaintances."

(Winston Churchill)

More than "Possible"

This is my Bible....C.C.'s photo had verse 5 highlighted.....

I have a Twitter account.  I use it primarily as a file of inspiring and challenging quotes.  This morning, Christine Caine's tweet sent me to her Instagram account--by the way, I don't have an Instagram account--there IS a limit:  This, along with a photo showing Joshua 3:5 highlighted in yellow, is what I found:

"I don't know about you, but I go to sleep believing this EVERY night.  I find that the more I BELIEVE the Lord will do amazing things among us, the more I see him do amazing things.  Life is too short to waste in unbelief, fear, doubt & negativity. As for me & my house, we are BELIEVING GOD!!!

"My word" for 2015 is possible. I wrote how that came to be here.  C.C.'s tweet and the accompanying Scripture impress me to expect so much MORE than possible.  God DID, CAN, and WILL DO AMAZING things!

It appears to me that Joshua called for at least two things here.  First, that the people "consecrate" (some versions say "purify") themselves in anticipation/expectation for God's amazing activity on their behalf.  Secondly, that preparation for the next day begin the night before!  Tomorrow begins today!

With God's help, I will incorporate both of these insights more intentionally into my daily - well, nightly - practice.

My Birthday and Facebook

I'm still reeling from all the birthday wishes I received via Facebook yesterday - Christmas Day.
Yes, I have a Christmas birthday.  I've had 66 of them, actually.

How technology has impacted (and in some ways - invaded) our lives today! 

I guess I didn't realize how much.
I used to separate reality and virtual reality,

but after yesterday the line is not so clear to me anymore...
The fact that I and over 100 people in my small circle of friends
were on Facebook on Christmas Day has prompted me to evaluate
and very probably adjust my personal habits in 2015.

How about YOU?
Anyone else doing some serious thinking on this subject?