Mr. Moderator @ your computer

The newly elected moderator of PCUSA is Bruce Reyes-Chow. I can partially name the last few moderators, but I think Bruce's name will stay remain more fixed in my memory vaults. He feels like someone you've known your whole life. Where does this feeling of connection come from? I've never met him in person, nor heard him speak, but I've been introduced to him and his family and church through his blogs (moderator and personal) , facebook, MySpace, web pages, and now Wikipedia! He seems very accessible, and the computer is one way of creating that relationship. On his new moderator page he posted ten of his top personal posts so that you can get to know him. I chose "Blogging as Spriritual Practice and Pastoral Practice." (Not a far reach to guess why... ) I'm not trying to support my own cause, but a confirmation that this connection between people of faith and their spirituality through the internet is a more natural evolution than I realized.

While some who may still not see, understand or acknowledge the power and effect of blogging on the wider culture may resist embracing the role of blogging in the church, I fear that we may be missing out on an opportunity to be a better church. I say this because clearly there is something spiritually life-giving about this whole blogging thing and the church can either embrace that reality or ignore it and run the danger of further missing out on an entire generation of people.

Next he lists gifts gained through blogging:

• discipline of time
• reflection about God
• community of Christ
• understanding of faith
• impact in the world
• nurturing of the community
• re-creation of the spirit
• conversations with God

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, You have the coolest toys! You are able to use our ordinary tasks and our latest creations and transform them into extraordinary means to serve your purpose and further your mission. You used a simple staff to turn water to blood and changed a Pharaoh's heart. You used a rainbow in the sky to seal your covenant with your people, and changed the seas to dry land. You used a bush, kept alive with fire, and changed a hesitant man into a prophet. You used laughter from a barren woman and changed the stars in the sky into tribes of Israel. O God, you are active in our life, creating opportunities from our ordinary day to change our perspectives and our lives, if we will but let you. You use a paintbrush to color a sunrise and change our morning of drudgery into a day of thanksgiving. You use a few strokes on a keyboard shaped into words and change a link to connection. Change who we are, to what you have called us to be. If it takes a staff, a street light, a hymn, or a computer, let us be open to transformation. Amen.