Ascension

Yesterday (Thursday) was the Feast of our Lord's Ascension, which many churches will celebrate this coming Sunday.  As we read in Acts 1, Christ Ascended from the earthly realm into the heavenly to sit at God's right hand and share in the Father's rule over Creation.  "All authority has been given to me" says Jesus in Matthew 28 and John 17.  The Ascension is part of Christ's victorious exaltation over the death-dealing powers of this age and it is also connected with the sending of the Holy Spirit to empower the Church for making disciples of all the nations.

These themes are subtly present and hinted at - prophetically - in the Psalm that is listed for this great feast day in our United Methodist Book of Worship, Psalm 47:

Psalm 47 - English Standard Version

1 Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! 2 For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. 3 He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. 4 He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah 5 God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet. 6 Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! 7 For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! 8 God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne. 9 The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted!

Social Media is anything but...

I believe that this video has a critically important message for our era - one that is not only important for mental health of individuals, but for the health and freedom of whole societies (for democracy does not function well when whole swaths of the population are living in perpetual distraction).

The sort of anecdotal evidence of the negative suggested by this video has also been vindicated by academic studies as well.  I personally try to use social media as a communication tool - rather like email - combined with a sort of "online" magazine in which I may find interesting articles or videos about (usually ministry-related, but sometimes hobby-related) significant subjects;  I certainly try to avoid "living my life" through posts; and am becoming more and more aware of my need to limit how much time I spend "chasing links."

I'll not forget my days in campus ministry going to eat with a dozen students and watching some of them looking down at their phones the whole meal, and missing out almost entirely on the real life camaraderie that was happening all around them.  If that sort of thing becomes more predominant - then perhaps the church can be a life-giving and counter-cultural influence precisely by embodying a non-digital, real, and local fellowship.