Posted 209 days ago
There's An App For That!
Andy Wade
3G, 4G, Bluetooth, WiMAX, WiFi, MiFi – - Oh My! How do we unpack the consequences of constant connection and discern where and when it is a
good thing? Or do we just accept it all as “progress” and integrate it into our lives? Much of this discussion concerning technology will be explored in more depth in our April issue of Seed Sampler. The question before us today is: How does this affect or shape our spirituality. Is there an app for that?
While I don’t own an i-phone, I have been drooling over the new Nexus phone from Google. Like the i-phone, I’m sure there will be applications for reading, studying, memorizing, and meditation on the Bible. That’s a good thing, right? It may even have oxymoronic Bible game apps like the i-phone’s “Bible Hangman”. Already on the i-phone there are hundreds of applications that have the potential to deepen and broaden our faith. Could this be both a creative use of technology and a danger?
If you are reading this then you have already made the decision that some technology is a good thing. Our wired world has increased our ability to connect with one another. Prayer request can shoot out across our networks in seconds. As we saw this past month, we can even respond to global disasters faster than ever. That’s a good thing, right?
Because of the World Wide Web we can connect to cultures like never before. We can read about, watch, listen to, and interact with people all over the world with different cultural and theological understandings and even different faiths. That’s a good thing, right?
The world is full of innovative uses of technology that both challenge and, dare I say it, enhance our faith. And all of these things in obvious, and not so obvious ways, impact our faith; what we think and how we respond in the world.
In London a vicar held a blessing service for laptops and other mobile devices. Traditionally a day the church would go into the fields and bless farm implements, the vicar recognized that the tools of work for his congregation had changed and so should their ceremonies. Did he go too far?
So tell me, what are your experiences?
- How has being plugged in affected your faith and action?
- What are some positive effects? How about not-so-positive or even negative effects?
- How do you think we should respond when technology plugs into another area of our lives?
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Reader Comments
The ‘Grey-Power’ of our faith-bodies sometimes may be neglected a little as the technological revolution rolls out like perpetual motion…too fast…too much….too much to obsorb.
So lets have a time during Bible-studies etc to introduce folks to what is out there and how to connect.
(a)For those unable to come and have fellowship…connect them.
(b)Take a Church census on ‘who has and who knows what about” and share that around as a resource.
©Have a collection point at Church/house church for those throw-away but still accessable/useable devices…to give away.
(d) Share first before we ‘purchase’.
(e) Use Lent and fast from the urge to buy the next gissmo…and give that $ amount away!!!!
Perhaps I’m texting tooooooo much. Oh, must go! my cell is vibrating ing..ing..ing…ing
Rev. Gavin Baulch » 206 days ago » Link
Thanks for the posts and ideas.
Doug, like the use of tech for music. My son is doing quit a lot with that now. One thing I noticed is that churches that move to the big screen projection of worship music often begin to lose touch with harmony in worship. For some that may be a blessing. Others, like Mennonites, it’s kind of sad. One church I’ve attended switched and the older folks discovered they loved it – no more heavy books to hold with arthritic hands! But that discussion is almost low-tech in today’s world.
Rev. Gavin, I like your suggestions – perhaps we do need a class on technology at church – what’s available, how to use it, and what the “underlying assumptions” and consequences are. Hmmmm.
I usually maintain a suspicious shield towards new technology. I fear that the digital age has separated and isolated people from community. I have really enjoyed technology in the area of songwriting. Today, I can write an opening piece with a melody line. I can write the song in Word and record the first melody line with the windows sound recorder to help me remember the “song start.” I can go to BibleGateway to confirm scripture references and any one of numerous sites to refer to a thesaurus or rhyme dictionary. It’s pretty cool. I can then print out a song prototype and record it in Audacity or GarageBand and have a nice recording. Years ago I recorded songstarts on cassette tape and then had to navigate through numerous songstarts to find the tune I was interested in. It was cumbersome so I have 25-30 old cassette tapes of lots of tunes I may never get back to. Yea to this technology at least. Thanks to it I have now hundreds of “song finishes” rather than song “starts.”
Doug McFarland » 207 days ago » Link