Stay In Touch

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy6:5-7NIV

One of the things which sets us apart from the other parts of creation, is that we can communicate by language. We are now finding that some other animals can make sounds which are interpreted in some way by others in their species. For our Creator God to give us this gift, suggests that He sees it as important. God gives us instructions to talk to our families, especially as we convey the commandments and love of God.

Since communication is important, why do we resist the many ways we have available to do just that? It seems that some don’t want to talk unless it is face to face. Ok, I hear you saying that this verse is only speaking about a face to face conversation, but in that day this was the only way to communicate! Is that really a reason for us to avoid any of the modern means of communication? I have come across those who would use the landline phone, but don’t ask them to use a mobile phone, or forbid even send a text! Given that attitude, there is no chance of them adopting any of the other social media methods of being in touch. Yes, it’s also about staying in touch as well as just talking.

Now, before you start to shout at me, I know that social media usage does not come naturally to some people, but then I can remember the first party line dial phones in our street, and they were a mystery to many too, and avoided by some at the beginning. There were even pastors who preached against their place in our homes and lives along with the advent of Television. We have moved on since then, and just about everyone has a landline phone, and a TV. Is it possible that the same thing will happen to the acceptance and use of the smartphone, and with it the general embrace of better communications through social media? Why would we all not want to have the best and fastest way to be in touch with those we love, and those we need? Like family and friends, doctors, hospitals, emergency services, pastors, and others you could add. Here’s a wee thought: Why not learn to accept this benefit and instead of resisting and complaining about it, use it for good? As I often say, “just thinking out loud!”

Lost It?

I suppose it had to happen one day. It felt like I had just turned my back and it was gone without a trace. It wasn’t an ordinary relationship, but let me try to explain some more but try to keep up with my wandering thoughts!

I had a lot of good contacts there and used them a lot. We would talk and be in touch often, of course some folks were better friends than others, but I always knew where they were, and how to get in touch. The truth is there were even folks in my ‘list’ I hardly knew but I felt it was a good idea to keep a note for the future. If you’re with the same crowd for a long time, they have ‘specials’ where you can relax a bit more. I suppose I was familiar with the way everything worked and there were very few surprises. It had become a part of my life, but I didn’t mind.

After a short time at the start when I wasn’t sure how things would work out, I decided to go for the casual membership contract and I found that was good value, at least for me. It didn’t seem to work for everyone mind you, but support was just a call away, and they would try to sort out whatever was troubling me. That didn’t happen very often but it was good to know the support was there.

Then the program changed, and just about everything changed with it. I seemed to lose some of my contacts. They were there one day and gone the next. Or that’s the way it seemed. The others in the list didn’t behave the same way after that. I don’t think any of us knew how to react to the ‘improvements’ as the company rolled out one by one until the way it ended up was unrecognisable. The specials weren’t so appealing now and more suited to a different crowd, some of whom were not even on my original contact list.

Mobile phones change every year and it’s hard to keep up with the changes they bring out. On top of that, as I get older, the more I get used to the one I have, and any change of handset or contract takes me longer to get used to. It didn’t happen overnight, but there came a time when I thought, why bother trying to keep up with the constant changes which the owners called progress. Sometimes change happens and it takes you too far from the solid, familiar ground you had, and for what benefit? So, you do what anyone else does in that situation. You change provider and go back to the tried and tested ways which brought you there in the first place?

Whether it’s my mobile phone, or my church, it’s a very similar process. Who would have thought?

Missing, Presumed What?

It’s not very scientific or a mathematical equation, but it does carry some weight. Church is a body of caring believers who are real friends. Jesus said in John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another”, so we know this is important.

The real question is, how should we show it? The church body is made up of family members, friends we know well, and some we are slowly getting to know better. We are all on a journey of learning and faith, and therefore not all the same. There are extroverts and introverts, talkative and quiet, and those on the way for a short or long time. We do not all react to the same things in the same way, but we are all affected by a hurt or missing member of the body. Or we should be!

The temperature can be measured by how many out of this different group of people will not only realise you are missing from church, but essentially those who will take the time to let you know you were missed. It doesn’t mean half as much to be told the following week when you enter the church again. That’s easy and takes no effort or forethought. When you love someone, I mean really love them like your wife or child, you leave no doubt that you care enough to see that they are doing ok. It doesn’t matter if they are ill, or away for the day, after all you don’t know until you make that call.

It means a lot to know you have been missed, and for that message to come to you before the week is over, and next Sunday morning comes around. Equally, and perhaps even more so, it sends an opposite message when silence reigns and you are left with the question, who loves enough as a disciple to care? Here’s another thought. A cold body is usually a dying or dead body. What a sobering thought!