Friday, May 2, 2008

Technology Dinosaurs and the Kingdom

So . . . here's my first stab at this "blog thing." Perhaps before I begin, I ought to make a bit of a confession. I am a technology dinosaur. Don't get me wrong, I like technology, computers (am a bit of a Mac snob to be honest), the advantages of being able to disseminate information quickly via email, etc. Yet there are some things about me that may seem a bit backwards to others. For example, I think it is borderline sacrilege to read a book online. Books were meant to be held, bindings admired, pages turned, copyrights consulted, dog-ears testifying to a journey in time, engagement and refreshment. "But aren't you hoping people will read your online blog Mike?" My blog is not a book. It is one guy reflecting on this thing called a summer preaching sabbatical and who may or may not have meaningful things to say regarding what God is doing in his life and the world. I invite you into this blog, yet at the same time admit that I do not read the blogs of others save for the occasional forwarded link with the comment from a trusted friend, "you gotta read this!"

Some more true confessions, I had a dial-up connection with AOL on my home computer until January of 2007. I've now had hi-speed for a whoppin' fifteen months. Hey don't knock it. My dial-up used a 256K modem which back in 1995 when I used a 28K modem was the stuff only of which technological dreams were made. Do we really think that 13 years represents that much progress when to the Lord a thousand years is like a day? and when my friend Loren, who faithfully folds our bulletins every week at Grace Chapel and has lived a lot of life, was seventy-eight years old back in 1995? I humbly suggest to you that my 256K modem was a technological feat to be celebrated rather than mocked because without it, there would be no such thing as "hi-speed" as we know it today. Cool? More confessions . . . "what is facebook or my space"? I don't know. "But have you started to text message Mike?" Well, I refused until January of this year when my friend Joie showed me how to use T9 English and now I can't imagine a world without the advantages (and joys) of text messaging. . . . and today this technology dinosaur starts blogging!!! So here we go . . . [oh, wait, . . . one final thing, whatever blog etiquette exists, I apologize in advance for my lack of manners. I don't plan on reading my blog anymore than anyone else's, so sorry if you were hoping for some kind of blogalogue- you know, . . . "blog dialogue." I am not looking for some sort of pseudocommunity- you know, . . . "artificial community" (now I 'm getting just plain condescending!) that causes people artificially to feel closeness and connection when in reality sitting in the privacy of their own homes behind a computer screen. Yuck! However, coffee and lunch I do do, so let me know]. OK, now let's try this blog thing . . .

This last week I was at a Midwest leaders conference that talked about vision and church planting. I was captured by one speaker who talked about asking God to give us a vision for the Kingdom of God that was larger than our church budget. And I thought, "I know this is true, but it's God who builds His church right? And if that is so, shouldn't we ask Him to do things that are beyond us?" I know it's simple thinking but it made a lot of sense and has begun to shape some of my prayers about the future of Grace Chapel, especially as we look at a third service in the Fall and what a move closer to the city at some point might look like. Could the "cost" of such an endeavor be a lot higher/bigger than anything we've been able to accomplish so far in our seven and a half years of existence as a church? Possibly? Probably? Yet isn't it exciting to think about loving God, one another and others so much that we begin trusting God for His Kingdom to grow not apart from but through our seemingly limited resources as a young church?

No comments: