COMS in Federation Space

 As an avowed "Trecky" - and by that I mean none of this modern Star Wars stuff (I know, I know - I'm really showing my age) but the proper Star Trek generation, the key breakthrough with alien cultures was when "The Universal Translator" became a feature of all Federation Space Ships. "What the heck are you going on about?" I hear you say. This little chip, attached to the little diamond on their Star Trek shirts, enabled them to communicate easily with all alien cultures, even though they didn't speak the lingo! Whether it was Klingon, Romulan, Borg or Vulcan, everyone could communicate with each other instantly. Not so, however, in a church! We struggle in numerous ways.

For one thing, there are a myriad of desired com-methods: some use only email, others won't go anywhere near anything electronic and are committed paper users. Others rarely go to their emails and use SMS Text. Whilst others still use Whatsapp only, and then still others use Facebook messaging. Then the really steely-hard pioneers still use a face-to-face encounter with their voices and occasionally their eyebrows. Some people claim their method of coms is email, but rarely check them!

Within a church, there has been a general trend away from paper to the e-coms means, because not only does it reduce copying costs (to say nothing about postage costs) but it also does justice to the green-planet-debate. Lower communication costs thererfore are vital.

And some people are never off their mobiles, and some people might occasionally turn them on once a day. Some read an SMS for 3 seconds and then forget it. Some people never reply to emails!

We are sinking in communication methods and yet we are a generation that still struggles to communicate!

It's not possible in a church to use all and every method of communication. Nor is it possible to pander to different methods that individuals require. We do not have lengthy time to go through every means. Ultimately we have to make a choice and then use it and then the church community has to either accept that or - as is becoming clear, choose not to be communicated with. Shrug the shoulders and ignore!

So we have chosen to use Joyned, aka Jovo, which not only complies with safeguarding requirements where say Whatsapp doesn't. Whatsapp shows the phone numbers, Jovo doesn't.

I guess it's possible to groan at how we com, but there is no perfect answer or solution. We have to make the best of it. We can see in Jovo who reads the message and who doesn't. And "ping" "ping" "ping" as yet another responds to the post or message can be annoying. Some people it seems don't want to be communicated with, and that then is a real problem to wrestle with.

Instead of pushing against the grain, might it be worth going with it and trying to make the best of it?

Afterall, in space, no one can hear you scream!

Stretched

Traditionally, summer is (at least in our memories) a time for a slower pace of life. That might have something to do with school holidays. The minute I type that last sentence, the stark truth is that many Grandparents step up, not down in school holidays! So maybe it's a mere myth! Yet I suspect that because we were all young once, we have this instinct that summer days should therefore be slower, more restful and have a more gentle pace of life. And that I think is just not reality. My observation is that many are finding that they are having to work harder, longer and be more productive. And the recovery time is taking longer for some, if not all. In short, there are numerous people, even in our own church family who are stretched more than any other time before. When you are stretched, it can be hard to cope with the ordinary, daily requirements of life. We are all familiar, I'm sure, with the balancing of the mundane aspects of our lives. The cleaning, tidying, washing, dusting (where does it come from), repairing, sweeping, hoovering, admin, financial admin and so forth - absolutely never goes away. It makes me remember Jesus at the home of Mary and Martha in Luke 10: 38-42 and Jesus arrives. You remember it well, I'm sure: Martha is annoyed as her sister, Mary, had left her to do the housework, so that Mary could sit at Jesus' feet. Martha wants Jesus to tell Mary off, and get on and do some house work. So Jesus comes to their house, and it's in chaos and you know what - he doesn't care! Tremendously reassuring. Can I widen it for a moment? He comes to your life, and it's in chaos, and you know what - he doesn't care! So Mary gets the "sister-prize" and just sits at Jesus' feet. Fascinating isn't it? Draw your own conclusions.

We had our holiday for the 3rd year in a row out of school holiday time, and it was delightful, and less expensive, but I found himself suddenly aware of those around us being generally older, and wasn't sure what I felt about that. "Has it come to this?" I heard myself say! But then I went back to reading my book, so it all became okay after that!

The stark truth is that since we came back from a very relaxing holiday, that the same fast pace of life has more than resumed. Which is far from ideal, but I guess not unexpected. 

I've been keeping my eye on local social media, and by that I mean the local facebook community sites I belong to, and off of the back of the local Police Sergeant's appeal for residents to not "name and blame" but report to him, I am increasingly seeing a growing tension on numerous issues. This had made me reflect on several things which I think we need to be aware of and pray into: 1) The means of peace making, mercy and reconcilliation are no longer known or used tools by the current generations. We take these for granted in the church. We may not be very good at them, but we know what should happen. That means that our communities no longer have the skills to reconcile, heal, forgive or be merciful. 2) The process that is becoming common is to now sweep out your camera phone and start filming and then immediately share publicly - "shame" so that public support in the form of "likes" can basically dishonour a person from within the locality. [irony] How clever we are and astute that this new basic form of "going for your phone" allows the truth to be be known. Except that in the brave tidal wave of AI now sweeping into our worlds, be very careful indeed, because the camera now pretty much always lies. What these observations and points say to me is that our "salt has lost its saltiness" in the community. Many simply do not have these key Kingdom values on how to live, forgive, reconcile and restore. And this is not somewhere else in some inner-city, it's right here on our doorsteps and in our community. Just like it's in other communities too. What are we going to do about it?

Pastor Sam