Building Church Community in a World of Virtual Community
Alone Together is the penetrating title of a book written by Sherry Turkle, Professor of The Social Studies of Science and Technology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She probes the ways modern electronic communications technology are altering the way we relate to the world – and to one another. We see it all around us: Real, genuine, face to face community, interaction, and intimacy are increasingly replaced – and displaced – by “virtual community”, technologically mediated social interaction, and even robotic replacements for real relationships. “We recreate ourselves as online personae, and give ourselves new bodies, homes, jobs, and romances”, writes Sherry Turkle in Alone Together. “Yet, suddenly, in the half-light of virtual community we may feel utterly alone. As we distribute ourselves, we may abandon ourselves. Sometimes people experience no sense of having communicated after hours of connection. And they report feelings of ‘closeness’ when they are paying little attention at all. In all of this, there is a nagging question: Does virtual intimacy degrade our experience of the other kind, and, indeed, of all encounters of any kind?” So asks author Sherry Turkle.
Because we are made in the image of the God in eternal communion as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we’re never truly satisfied unless we are in communion with other human beings. “It is not good for man to be alone.” We are made for companionship and for community. And when sovereign divine grace changes us from being “without God in the world” to being “the people of God” we have restored communion with the God in whom we live and move and have our being. The biblical word is koinonia – fellowship – a real (not a virtual, but a real) sharing of lives together. “Indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ” writes the Apostle John. And that fellowship brings us into fellowship with others who, by the Holy Spirit, are also in fellowship with the Father and the Son. That’s the beauty of the Church – in which Christian disciples are meant to be devoted to “the fellowship” – the real, genuine, sharing of lives that are being transformed by Almighty grace and mercy.
But today there are two huge challenges to developing this living community with its origins in heaven rather than parasitical communities with their origins in this world.
One is the challenge of the attraction of technologically mediated technology. It’s as near as your hand-held device. It’s as easy as a click. It’s bright and it’s captivating. And you can control it. In an instant, you’re on to another interaction. No real commitment. No real giving of yourself. No real hurt. None. And that’s attractive to a world that loves control and no commitments.
The second, I’m sorry to say, is the challenge of the lack of attraction of too many church communions. How superficial our dealings can be: We meet on Sunday. We are friendly (more or less). We may enjoy coffee together. We leave “church”. And we do the same the next week. Is this really much different than the surface relationships of cyberspace? And if even the surface relationships of church life are more demanding than the surface relationships of cyberspace (I need to get up on Sunday morning. I need to wash and get dressed. I need to travel to church. I need to take an hour of my precious time….) why even bother with this thing called “church”?
And add to that the sense that church people are “judgmental”, that they have their own cliques and in-groups, and that they rarely, if ever, open their homes – and with their homes their real lives – to you and to others – then why not just go with the cultural flow? The world of electronic communion is far more pleasant, and far, far easier than the world of “church communion.” What am I really losing by being Alone Together?
The church is meant to be the true counter-culture in this world. But how do we build genuine church community in a world of virtual community?
That’s the topic of this week’s edition of A Visit to the Pastor’s Study. Here’s the link to the program: http://www.mediafire.com/
Happy listening!
Your servant in the Great Shepherd,
Pastor Bill