Becoming unmuted

Last night I was at a home church run by an old friend.  He talked briefly about Zechariah, John's father and Jesus' uncle and his being driven mute by Gabriel for a lack of faith (John 1).  My friend warned of complacency muting our own example. and of not believing that our service to God was worth His involvement.
That actually hit home for me.  I was reminded as he talked of a book I wrote many years ago about marginal characters in the Gospel story.  I spent the better part of two years on the project and when I finished, I made a CD backup, filed it and promptly left it alone, never making the effort to publish it for a number of spoken reasons that seemed logical. The real reason that I thought it was unpublishable.
And so I've really thought nothing of it for almost a decade, until last night.
For a variety of reasons I have kept what God has given me under an upturned basket, sharing it only with a select few.  My friend's admonition have given me a new push to do something.  And with the wonders of social media, allowing so much crap to be published at no cost, I have no excuse.  So starting next week. I will serialize the book in this blog.  If it does anything for you, let me know.  If you think it could be appropriate for any of your friends, let them know and share the link.  It doesn't matter if you start at the beginning, middle or end.  Each chapter stands on its own.  Here's hoping that it meets you at the right time.

Privacy is not for the faithful

It's been a while since I posted something, which is bad social media etiquette. My only excuse is I write about a half dozen blogs as it is and something has to fall through the cracks sometimes. But this post has actually been percolating for about 3 months in my head and has finally risen to the surface.

I make my living consulting to companies and organizations about communications strategies and techniques so naturally I spend a lot of time talking to people about social media, what it is, why it is important and how to do it right. And my specific market are all those who still aren't sure if social media is a fad. It's a tough road but I never did take the easy path.

In every encounter I get a criticism from the potential client that social media destroys privacy and personal identity. This is usually accompanied with a concern about security. I have answers for all kinds of people, but lately I've been getting requests to help people in the ministry, both lay and clergy. It's created an interesting discussion.

The concept of privacy and the ability to personally define your individuality is a very "American" concept, but it doesn't have any basis of legitimacy in the Judeo-Christian ethic. I have been able to find no evidence in the Bible supporting the concept of individuality and privacy. In fact, I find the very opposite.

Take, for example, Luke 9:24 where Jesus says, "Whoever would save his life, will lose it..." The whole reason for a Christian to participate in social media is to exercise the great commission. you can reach more people in a shorter time through blogs, social networks like Facebook and even just instant messaging (yes that's social media, too) then you can going one to one in your neighborhood. In fact, social media can make you a more effective and acceptable Christian even in your own neighborhood.

But you cannot be an effective Christian and still be a private person.

Besides, privacy is illusory. The effort we put into pursuing ways to keep to our selves is pretty much wasted with the availability of your information on the internet now.

We need to stop worrying about what we cannot have and start embracing reality.