...You know, I'm just an old dog, but it occurs to my canine brain to ask the question which was in Marcus Borg's latest book someplace... "What business is the church in?" My myopic contention is that we are, or at least should think of ourselves, in the communication business.From the comments to this post. I thought the canine bishop's words were too good to remain hidden away.
In an era in which our lives seem completely enveloped in communication, how can the church not take advantage of all the vehicles to do that? The only question is what content should be flowing out... bishop's blogs, youtube videos, audio and video of sermons, Facebook and G+? And I would think the right answer is that we should be trying to use all of them, or at least as many as are practical. And you Facebook users have a responsibility to re-preach the message of the church by "Sharing" good posts to all your friends, whether part of your church or not.
And yet... you can name the blogging bishops on one paw (1 or 2, not sure), you see diocese websites that are boring, boring, boring, that have no messages of the mission of the church, ways to engage in ministry, the excitement that SHOULD be part and parcel of being a Christian alive today...
Churches too often fail this as well, being fairly static and trading on the traditions and ancient ritual of the faith, rather than the here and now life and ministry... Father Moretz sort of got it right, but have you seen videos of his sermons? Where are the people?
Anyway, gotta go get my afternoon nap... you bipeds be good...
And here's another excellent video from the Episcopal Café created by the Diocese of Texas.
Bravo!
UPDATE: So far as I can discover, the quote 'Evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.' is from D. T. Niles in his book That They May Have Life, rather than Robert Munger. As my correspondent on Facebook, Tim Chesterton, told me, 'Niles was a Sri Lankan evangelist and ecumenical leader who deserves to be much more widely known than he is.'
