I have recently received an e-mail from the Diocese inviting
clergy to attend a training course in the use of the social media -
Facebook, Twitter, blogging etc. I'm not intending to attend this
course as it is very unlikely that I will ever use them in my ministry.
But this doesn't mean that I am unaware of the importance of these
things in today's world. I also acknowledge that the Church needs to
use them in order to communicate the Gospel of Christ - Pope Benedict
is among many other Christian leaders who now 'tweet' regularly! Before
long our parish will probably need to have a Facebook page in addition
to the present web site.
I can see how having a regular blog or tweeting can be a valuable tool
to get one's message across, so why don't I want to be part of this new
world of communication? It's because frankly I just don't have enough
to say to keep going! I find it quite difficult to come up with
something worth saying each week in the Sunday sermon, and once a month
in this letter, let alone being creative enough to blog or tweet on a
regular basis. And I just don't think that anyone would be
interested enough to pay attention to what I might have to say anyway!
So I'll be leaving the use of the social media to communicate the
Gospel to others who are better equipped for it than I!
Like many other human creations, the social media have brought both
great benefits and some evils to our lives. For example on the one hand
they enabled many people to come together very quickly to start
searching when little April Jones went missing last year, and they are
a wonderful tool for helping families and friends who may live all over
the world to keep in touch. On the other hand when the riots took place
in our cities several years ago the social media appear to have enabled
the rioters to be more effective in making mischief. And we are
all aware of Internet bullying and how paedophiles use social media to
groom possible victims.
The social media are here to stay - it is vital that we learn to use
them well and are aware of the dangers they pose. I think one of the
reasons I don't feel comfortable with them is that I don't want to be
available to half the world all the time and I don't have enough to say
to make their use useful to me! I'm not really keen to have an Internet
profile. One of the dangers of all this is that many people seem to
think they don't actually have any real status or even existence
outside the virtual world of the Internet. This world almost seems to
be more real to them that the actual environment in which they live.
This month sees the beginning of Lent. This special season invites all
of us, whether users of the social media or not, to consider our
'profile' with God and to reflect upon how we communicate with Him and
He with us.We can use Internet terms to bring light to that most
important of all our relationships. What for example is our 'status' in
his
sight? We receive the answer to this question on Ash Wednesday.When we
receive the cross of ash the priest says to us:'You are dust and to
dust you shall return'. We realise that our status is lowly indeed.We
are creatures, entirely dependent on God.Yet God loves that dust and
wants to raise it up, because it is made in His image. Through the
grace of God through Christ we can indeed have a new status, a truly
raised profile in his sight. Lent is given to us each year that we may
go 'back to basics' and realise once again who we truly are and what we
owe to God, and how through his love and grace we can grow in his
service.
