We are living in a digital world, and I am a digital girl

Madonna still rings true - it is a material world, but things have changed a little bit since her song came out. There are cell phones, laptops, internet, Skype, instant messaging, electronic mail, voice mail and personal data assistants (pda). As a student and young adult, all of these things can be my friend. I can have real time conversations, and I can transfer documents quickly. Decision making happens so much faster.

What has been lost is the authentic face-to-face conversation. I am guilty of having instant message conversations with someone who is 5 feet away from me - in my defense, it's been in the library. Nonetheless, it seems we are becoming more comfortable with communicating via these fragmenting forms of communication. Why are they fragmenting? We can forget there's another human being on the other end of the digital box. We will say things over e-mail we would never say face-to-face. We leave voice mails laying things we know will hurt, but we aren't there to see the hurt it does to hear it. I have been both sender and receiver of this fragmentation, and now I'm rethinking the importance (or role) it will have on the next 30+ years of my life.

A fellow congregant at church asked, "What does Christ want this city to know?" We all thought long and hard about it. I think Christ wants us all to remember we are more than the receptacle of what comes out of these boxes. We are more than objects standing in the way of personal goals. We are more than bodies in the way of the exit off the over-packed bus. We are humans, imago dei, created to be in loving connection with each other.

The church and the ecclesia stand in contrast to this digital world. We gather together and look at each other. We touch hands. We touch common food of bread and wine/juice. We hug. We physically pass peace - we don't download the app! We don't schedule note in the pda to remember to send Jesus something on his birthday. There's something about being in a physically present community that has a rhythm of remembrance that is beautifully opposite what I'm supposed to be doing according to culture.

I am a digital girl. I send e-mails. I use instant messaging. I'm more likely to send a text than cold call a friend. However, I take at least one hour every week to remember this is not how it has to be. That one hour prepares me to open up to the possibility of shared meals, face-to-face conversation and the movement of the spirit when two or more are gathered.