Have you been sucked in to Facebook yet? Its a great way to get back in touch with old friends. It's great for a bit of fun. It's great for a lot of things. I live alone, as many of people do in our culture. I love the way Facebook is helping me put my life story together, and helping me reconnect with old friends, and have little fun moments in the middle of the day.
Someone was burbling away on the One programme yesterday about "Wikinomics" - the power of collaboration in a Facebook generation. He said that MySpace has 200 million subscribers worldwide, Facebook has about 80 million.
WHY IS THIS? What are we looking for?
Part of me is still searching for a particular kind of vulnerable, authentic community which I can call a spiritual home. The kind of vulnerable peer relationships where you can't hide, or pretend. The kind of place where authentic and close relationships are seen as the key to growth, maturity, joy and freedom. Letting people close enough to annoy and irk us, and get under our skin, but also to mirror back the real us.
I already have this to some degree in a growing number of close friendships, but I can still hide the real me too easily, and I do.
My hunch is that too many of us are lonely, and are searching for more connectedness, and we know it will cost us something to find it. Perhaps the price is our freedom, our reputation, our autonomy.
A friend said to me at Greenbelt, as we sat outside the Organic Beer tent watching people, "I know what's missing from the church - living together in real community."
How can we, the people of God, live more like this, and model it for a lonely, disconnected culture?
Subscribe (Feedburner)
I really appreciate your images and comments. Would it be alright if I borrowed some for chruch presentations. Cited ofcourse. E-mail me at randi@rockofgrace.org. Thanks!
Posted by: Randi | September 19, 2007 at 01:47 PM
I also appreciate your opinions and thinking. May God bless you!
Posted by: Lily | September 22, 2007 at 01:18 AM
Appreciate too!
Posted by: Lily | September 22, 2007 at 01:19 AM
I agree, I hav just joined facebook, simply because I'm loanly. I wish I lived in a community, sort of like what highschool camping trips felt like. But I dont know why you said "we, the people of god".
Posted by: matt | October 08, 2007 at 10:43 PM