Get off-line!

I have just read two fascinating posts: one by John Piper and one by Josh Harris, both about using Twitter using church services. John Piper writes:

Josh Harris has done us a good service. He explains why many of us think it's a bad idea to "tweet" while participating in corporate worship. That is, we think you should use Twitter before and after corporate worship to say what you take in and take out. But when you are in corporate worship, Worship! There is a difference between communion with God and commenting on communion with God.

Don't tweet while having sex. Don't tweet while praying with the dying. Don't tweet when your wife is telling you about the kids. There's a season for everything. Multitasking only makes sense when none of the tasks requires heart-engaged, loving attention...

To be honest, it stuns me that these issues even need to be raised. No-one could convince me that being online in a church service, either to Twitter or to Facebook, could possibly help in their ability to sit under the word of God and concentrate.

However, I have been amazed by the number of people I know on Facebook (yes, admission here - I am on Facebook, but not on Twitter) who seem to update their status as they go into church, as they come out of church, and sometimes I suspect in church. And guess what - some of them are ministers!!

Part of me wants to say - who cares really? How much attention to you really pay to people's status updates? Especially from people who are only online 'friends'.

Surely it has to be our priority to encourage the people of God who are with us in person, rather than those out there on-line. Let's have relationships with real people in real time!