For a ministry class the Rev. Rebecca Parker posed this question "How might a post-modern, relational understanding human
interchange inform an evolving ecclesiology in an age of social
networking and internet technologies?" A class associated with a conference (Center) for ministers. Not only would I need to answer this question I would need to post my answer so that other ministers could read it. It is different posting for you - nonexistent followers who look and may sometimes like what they see but rarely comment. Here I would post for people who I would interact with in 72 hours. What did I want from this? Simply to make some kind of sense? Actually to make this question make some kind of sense to my life and call. What does it mean Karen to be a minister in the age of social networking and digital interchange? What does it mean to be a minister? What does it mean to have a social network? What does it mean that that network is digital and far flung around the world - yet still seen and experienced.
I ran for my handy on-line dictionary to look up several terms... ... ...
I am a priest in the order of Melchizedek. Aren't you? The mystical priest holding only to the highest Gd. Holding onto the earth while pointing at the moon. Serving those in need while capturing beauty. Awakening love while remembering the holy. Ministry is the impossible task of living fully in this world with all its mess and chaos, beauty and horror, all the while gently making room for the ineffable. Ministry is being in two states at one time, holding on while letting go. Ministry is knowing that while it seems impossible to be both at once, it is the only way to live.
But she asks a different question my middle of the night mind reminded me - not what do you know ministry to be - but how might we be now?
YouTUBE (you may have heard of it) is one of those ideas that started a revolution. Let's make everyday videos available on the web. Facebook, Twitter, WoW, EVE, Second Life ... where do people "live" now? What does community look like now that I can Skype my step daughter in Germany and have a virtual job with people on the other side of the country? It is a mystery to me and to most everyone I talk to - and still it is the world I live within today.
Because I believe that reminders of our transcendent nature are important, I have played around in the realm of YouTUBE, Blogspot and Facebook, attempting to create a space for beauty and wonder. I explore and experiment here because I want a ministerial, pastoral, voice in this space of virtual community. It is a strange and wonder filled land. where joy and humor reign. I am not sure how good I am in this task but I have gathered about 500 followers for a series of questions asking where we find Gd n the world and another 400 viewers of various videos that I've posted. In comparison, a friend has over 6 million views for a VERY funny spoof on getting older - you might even have seen it. 6 million views (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzSaoN2LdfU). Nothing in comparison to Gangnam Style with 1.2 BILLION views (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0).
What does it look like to be a voice of opening, of possibility, of reverence? People are willing to be distracted - are they willing to be transformed? Does Matt Dancing change people? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY) Does transformation come from Playing for Change? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM)
Who are the priests which Melchizedek would now bless?
What if we are the macro enactment, the embodiment, of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle: we either know where we are going or where we are but never both at the same time.
I do know that ministry is no longer about 40 years, or 40 days, but rather 40 minutes or perhaps even 40 seconds. We have a moment to catch someone's attention, to invite them into a wider, richer, or potentially life changing perspective. What can we do with that moment?
I ran for my handy on-line dictionary to look up several terms... ... ...
I am a priest in the order of Melchizedek. Aren't you? The mystical priest holding only to the highest Gd. Holding onto the earth while pointing at the moon. Serving those in need while capturing beauty. Awakening love while remembering the holy. Ministry is the impossible task of living fully in this world with all its mess and chaos, beauty and horror, all the while gently making room for the ineffable. Ministry is being in two states at one time, holding on while letting go. Ministry is knowing that while it seems impossible to be both at once, it is the only way to live.
But she asks a different question my middle of the night mind reminded me - not what do you know ministry to be - but how might we be now?
YouTUBE (you may have heard of it) is one of those ideas that started a revolution. Let's make everyday videos available on the web. Facebook, Twitter, WoW, EVE, Second Life ... where do people "live" now? What does community look like now that I can Skype my step daughter in Germany and have a virtual job with people on the other side of the country? It is a mystery to me and to most everyone I talk to - and still it is the world I live within today.
Because I believe that reminders of our transcendent nature are important, I have played around in the realm of YouTUBE, Blogspot and Facebook, attempting to create a space for beauty and wonder. I explore and experiment here because I want a ministerial, pastoral, voice in this space of virtual community. It is a strange and wonder filled land. where joy and humor reign. I am not sure how good I am in this task but I have gathered about 500 followers for a series of questions asking where we find Gd n the world and another 400 viewers of various videos that I've posted. In comparison, a friend has over 6 million views for a VERY funny spoof on getting older - you might even have seen it. 6 million views (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzSaoN2LdfU). Nothing in comparison to Gangnam Style with 1.2 BILLION views (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0).
What does it look like to be a voice of opening, of possibility, of reverence? People are willing to be distracted - are they willing to be transformed? Does Matt Dancing change people? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY) Does transformation come from Playing for Change? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM)
Who are the priests which Melchizedek would now bless?
What if we are the macro enactment, the embodiment, of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle: we either know where we are going or where we are but never both at the same time.
I do know that ministry is no longer about 40 years, or 40 days, but rather 40 minutes or perhaps even 40 seconds. We have a moment to catch someone's attention, to invite them into a wider, richer, or potentially life changing perspective. What can we do with that moment?
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