The last few weeks I come back to this page and then off
I go looking around at others blogs, web pages and try to see similar threads
and areas that I can see pursuing. What really could become the meaning behind
this blog that I have wanted to find the right avenue to head down before going
further? Some days I have felt compelled to start saying something but then
found I was stopping myself because I wasen’t quite there yet, quite ready to
jump into the conversation.
Then I got thinking about technology and what that means
in my life. The connection that it has to those I am closest with and those who
I attend theological school with each week. My school days are limited but my
interactions with those who I attend school with continue on into evenings and
weekends. Sometimes more than one of us shares in the conversation and none of
us live close, some are hour long train rides away actually. Sometimes it is
just a quick hello or a word of encouragement after seeing a post one of them
might have shared on their Facebook page. Then I had one of those “a ha”
moments if I might call it that. Maybe small really but it caused me to take a
look a little deeper at the use of technology as a form of pastoral care,
reaching out to others. I realized when I sent those bbm’s (blackberry messages)
I was in fact connecting with a friend or family member who needed to connect
with someone who could stop, even for a brief moment and hear what was on their
mind. Maybe that really is the point. Face to face encounters can be wonderful
but sometimes time, circumstances, locations do not allow for that but it
shouldn’t mean that we cannot connect and it hasn’t stopped us.
When I actually began to really think of all those
important messages there were many actually.
·
Texts or emails asking for the support or
prayers when things weren’t going great for someone.
·
An update to share with me on how they were
doing.
·
Sharing thoughts on what to do for the next
worship service we are planning and what they are working on and what might we
resources we could share with each other to make both our lives a little easier
in the midst of all the craziness
·
Texting colleagues, family members who live
abroad, or friends to give an update about the circumstances of a sick person
close to both of us
·
Just a text to say how much you missed them
the other day
I guess you could call it an impersonal form of contact
but ultimately, it is contact. Contact is all about love, concern and
faithfulness to those whom we are joined together with in community. A
community built around relationships, so why not here!
