Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Charging into the 20th Century

The other day, I did something I have never done before: pastoral counseling via chat. If you are reading a blog you are probably savvy enough to know that chat is like an on-line conversation, except you are typing to one another from computers.

Just when I thought I understood technology and its uses (good, bad and ugly), along comes an opportunity to help someone explore some important stuff in a whole new way. It lacked the face to face nature of sitting down with someone over coffee. It didn't have the tone of voice cues that a phone call would have. I don't think it will ever replace the other means at hand for communicating with and helping people. It does however remind me that just as scripture must be reinterpreted, the stories retold and re-received by the community of faith, we also need to find ways of keeping up with how people are communicating in order to do so.

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