Technology and Spirituality

There are many ways that technology can hinder our spirituality.

1. By distracting us from God. We can be on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, _________ (Insert social media sight here) and scrolling and scrolling and not thinking about God.
2. By going down rabbit holes and not remembering how we are connected to God.
3. By disconnecting us from our real relationships and focusing on something that is real but is not like the person sitting next to us on the couch.
4. By fixing us on things we already believe and not being pushed to grow and see things in new and different ways.

We can get sucked into social media and allow it to consume us so we do not look at spiritual insights or think about God. We find ways to distract ourselves from where we should be and how we should be connected to the world around us.

But technology can also connect us to people who need to see things from our perspective, or we can see things from a perspective that is not our own. I have friends on social media that are devoted Catholics, which is a perspective I do not always agree with and I need to have to see things from a different perspective. We are always not right and while the discussion on social media can be toxic, sometimes we see things and allow ideas that are not ours to help us see things from a wider perspective.

The chapter we got to read for class this week was from the book The Digital Cathedral by Keith Anderson. The chapter is A DiGiTAL Rule of Life. In this chapter, Keith Anderson gives a digital rule for life and this is what he wrote:

1. Be Present
2. Listen
3. Welcome the Stranger
4. Pray Without Ceasing
5. Be Helpful
6. Be Humble
7. Get Rhythm
8. Curate Good Information
9. Convene Conversations
10. Participate in Meaning Making
11. Tell Good Stories
12. Disagree Amicably
13. Take Digital Sabbath
14. Meet in Person Whenever Possible
15. Commit All You Do to God

These are all things I try to do in things I do online and in person. Some people think they can be one person online and another in person. I feel this is not being a person of integrity and is fake. We are called as disciples to love out loud and be authentic. I try to do everything I do for the glory of God.

I do a lot of content sharing on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and I have had a lot of people say thank you for sharing what I share because it has helped them through a hard time. I also have done a devotional blog since I resigned from my call in 2012. I started this to keep myself connected, and it evolved into others reading this and using it for their devotional time. A few years ago, during COVID I was having a hard time keeping up with the blog and all the stuff I needed to do for ministry at Treehouse and I put a poll out on the blog about how many people read this and use this devotional daily. I was surprised at the number of people who responded that they have found comfort and growth through my devotional and that they wanted me to keep doing the devotional but all of them said that they understood if I needed to step away, they would miss it but would find other outlets. I share what I share and continue to do the devotional because I feel that it is a mission field.

We need to be where the people are, even when we aren’t accepted. Technical is a mission field.