Sitting in a deli working on a
sermon over lunch recently, I noticed an eight or nine year old boy looking for
a seat. Carefully cradled under his arm was a half-inch thick red-framed
rectangular screen a little smaller than a sheet of paper. “Cool,” I thought.
“He’s got an Etch A Sketch to keep him busy while he waits for lunch to
arrive.” As he neared, I realized there were no telltale white knobs and the red
frame was just rubberized protection for his iPad.
Of course, my initial
interpretation of what the boy carried betrayed my own generational habitat and
reminded me of the hours I spent turning those beloved white knobs when I was
his age. Glancing at the iPad next to my lunch plate I was caught up in a swirl
of nostalgia and wonder at how things have changed.
Then, rising from the reflective
eddy came a question: Are we an Etch A Sketch church in an iPad world?
It is easy to hear this as an
either/or question laden with value judgments resulting in a division of the
household of faith into something like “Etchers” and “Padders.” That’s not how
I hear it. Etch A Sketch and iPad are very different means of creative
expression and engagement with the world. Placing them alongside one another
they become metaphors for the contemporary church’s creative expression of the
gospel and its engagement with the world for the sake of that gospel. Such
metaphors can lead us into fruitful discernment and effective engagement with
God’s mission of healing and hope in the world today and into the future. In
fact, this sort of playful reflection and conversation might assist us in
living into this new day like the early apostles did in their new day. (Now
would be a good time to read Acts 10-15 if you haven’t lately.)
For example, I am struck with the
self-contained nature of the Etch A Sketch in comparison to the iPad. A person
can create beautiful images by twisting those white knobs with care and
precision guided by his or her creative vision. But the Etch A Sketch has no
built-in interaction with or input from outside the etcher’s immediate local
context. An iPad, by nature, penetrates boundaries to provide multi-directional
engagement with the world. It is, by default, connected to and welcoming of
interaction, resources, insight and input from an almost infinite number of
sources far beyond the user’s immediate context. While we can come up with some
pretty creative mission and ministry by turning the knobs of the self-contained
resources right at hand, might the church, including your congregation, benefit
from more immediate, intuitive and multi-directional connection with people,
resources, and perspectives from well-beyond the usual red-rimmed boundaries we
tend to work within?
Are we an Etch A Sketch church in an iPad world?
Let’s talk about this. Post a comment here. You can also email me, send me a note by mail, chat with me when I visit
your congregation or you catch me at Starbucks. Let’s use this metaphor to help
each other find faithful and effective ways to follow Jesus into this 21st
century world. In mid-September I will share more of my thoughts
about this and respond to some of yours as well.
Posts
2 comments:
Great reflection, Bill. And great tracing of these metaphors: two stimulating means of personal creative engagement, but only the iPad opens up into interaction with others' insights as well. What strikes me though is that what we need most -- as a church, as well as in our culture -- is connection not (just?) with other human perspectives, as endlessly riveting as these are, but with the voices we are almost totally oblivious to as a culture: those clamoring for our attention in and through the natural world. We need to learn to see and listen again far beyond our species, and begin again, haltingly, humbly, to pay attention to the complex life -- and death -- of the creation and creatures around us, on their own terms. (In that sense, an Etch-a-Sketch church might not be so poorly positioned in an iPad world, since those playing with an Etch-a-Sketch are at least potentially invited to draw things they see in creation: to actually learn to observe and see...)
Not sure where this reflection is going in terms of the metaphors, but I do sense quite powerfully our urgent need -- desperate need -- to step outside our usual incurvatus human-only interactions and back out into the truly real world, to take our place with our Lord among the creatures and world with which we are biologically incarnated.
Thank you, Bill, for such a stimulating post. I'm happy to be on your blog list!
I love this analogy. Thank You for sharing. What I notice about the etch-a-sketch church vs the iPad world is the functionality of the two devices. With the etch-a-sketch it is pretty clear that it has a narrower purpose. Draw or write something using the two little white knobs. You still have the opportunity to be creative within the defined context of the etch-a-sketch. I think the church lived in this world when it was positioned at the center of the community. People would show up and participate, because that is simply what you did.
However, if I was given an iPad there is not one single purpose for its use. I could browse the internet, write an email, play angry birds, read a book, update my twitter/facebook, use it as a level... the possibilities are endless. While it does connect us with the outside world, it also can easily distract us from what we are called to be doing. I'll admit, I've been distracted by Words with Friends when I intended to write an email or two. While the iPad world opens so many new opportunities, it can also provide many distractions. Which is why I think as the church we need to be very clear what our mission and purpose is within our community and world. If we are clear what that is, then we can navigate the iPad world well with all the connections such a world provides. If not, I fear that churches can easily get pulled in so many directions and lose energy and focus.
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