It has been awhile since my (our) last blog post. What do I write about? Well, a few things have been rolling around in this head of mine.
Topic one: Recently, when I attended church, someone made a comment about to me about social media and the role it plays in a faith community. These questions came up: Do congregations have to be involved in social media? Is web 2.0 the place to be? How does a congregation know if social media is the right fit?
All very good questions. For my part, I feel that social media serves as a tool to enhance our engagement, learning and service. This blog for example, is a place for people to post stories and share events. It gives us some “personality.” And our Facebook page? Well, it is a great place for fellow progressive Christians who visit or belong to First Central to connect and learn more about each other on a different level. Do I think congregations should give social media a try- absolutely! Social media or Web 2.0 as the techies call it, is very “hot” right now. It is a great time to try new things and dabble in this fun world of communication. Is it right for every congregation? Maybe not now, but it might be a year or two. Bottom line- our church family is very important. Web 2.0 will never replace face-to-face interactions. (Where would I be without that fateful conversational dinner last March?) They only serve as another avenue to serve our community, get to know one another and become educated citizens.
Topic two: Time poverty. I have extreme time poverty and I know I’m not alone. How do we make time for all that needs to get done? There are just not enough hours in the day! Between work, personal and family responsibilities they day just melts away. As I sit here, I’ve got a dish washer that needs to be emptied, laundry to be put away, trash to be taken out, people to call, research to be done and the list just goes on and on.
So, my question becomes, how on earth do we stay motivated? How do we stay connected with out burning out? How do we find time to get closer to God, deepen our spirituality or venture more on our faith journey? The answer depends on each of us. (It is my dearest hope that you are having better luck tackling the time poverty problem than I am.) One thing that makes dealing with time poverty easier, is that no matter how many Sundays I miss, I still feel welcomed at First Central. It is my home away from home and a respite from my ever-growing to-do list. Thanks for always being there for me, First Central, even when I’m not.
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Time poverty. Ah, yes....
ReplyDeleteI avoid time poverty by full-on embracing financial poverty. My current circumstances are very fortunate and I know everyone can't just stop working and we shouldn't be freeloaders, but even when I was working up to 50 hours a week I kept an ample amount of leisure by completely eliminating the television and computer from my life and keeping to one shopping trip (groceries, usually) every other week. I had stupendous amounts of time and I loved it! The book "Your Money or Your Life" was very influential for me, and this is a very timely post because it is something I've been really thinking about a lot lately.
ReplyDeleteRachael Ferber