theo|digital

I’m blogging through James Gleick's The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood.

Media historians and media ecologists often point to the telegraph as a threshold technology: the first time that communications technology became un-fused from transportation technology. That is, messages could move faster than a human.

James Gleick tells the story of the telegraph and electric telegraph in Chapter 5 of The Information. What’s fascinating to me is how quickly analyists of the mid-1800s started to draw organic and macro-cohesive analogies for what electricity could do.

The time is close at hand,” declared Scientific American in 1880, “when the scattered members of civilized communites will be as closely united, so far as instant telephonic communication is concerned, as the various members of the body now are by the nervous system.

And Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1851:

Is it a fact—or have I dreamt it—that, by means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve, vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time? Rather, the round globe is a vast head, a brain, instinct with intelligence! Or, shall we say, it is itself a thought, nothing but thought, and no longer the substance which we deemed it!

The comments sound incredibly apt to a Facebook world, yes? What’s curious is in the raging modernist world of the mid-19th century, the organic analogies of nerves and brain and body were top of mind. They placing the new inventions in the context of the whole.

For such an inter-connected world, questions like “how does this Brain make decisions?” are real questions. Especially if we turn the corner into US politics, primary elections, health care legislation, and 100% gridlocked Congress. We are concomitantly united and divided. What does it mean that individuals have votes in the Brain? What if we are “no longer the substance we thought we were?”

And after 150 years having the ability to think about it, why do I still hear more voices on individualistic analysis of Facebook instead of communal?  Particularly theologians: I still hear laments about how much time people spend on Facebook rather than with their family, or worries about privacy, rather than the massive implications of a Church who lives as a Body in a technology atmosphere that breathes this.¹

Come on pastor-theologians. We should be able to do this.

1. Okay, to be fair, I think of Dwight Friesen’s Thy Kingdom Connected, but I was disappointed with its weak missional ecclesiology [↩]

I grabbed my my Samsung BD-D6500 Blu-ray player mostly for two things: blu-ray player and Netflix streaming.  The latter half of that combo hasn’t worked in months.  Not that I can’t load up the Netflix app from the awkward Samsung “hub.” But every movie or tv show spins for not more than 2 minutes, rebuffers a few times, then drops into a

I hit that error 17 in times in a row during one 30 minute episode (that’s determination!).

Of course, you just assume it’s network speed or something. But my laptop and iPad streamed Netflix perfectly. And my network speeds were consistently 10mbps down using www.speedtest.net.

Samsung customer support:  awful. Live chatted with a tech who had me reset and reinstall the app (expected), but then told me that it was my firewall, and that I should disable it, leaving my network exposed to the internet. Good plan.  So, end of road there.

Netflix customer support: much more helpful. First of all: friendly and quick.  And all he wanted to do was deactivate the blue-ray player and reactivate it from his end.

That’s when he told me to pick up my Samsung remote, point it at my blu-ray player and press:

up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, up, up, up, up

I just about laughed aloud. You know what this is?

No A, B or “Select” keys… but this is a solid Nintendo throw-back.

The tech told me it works for most Netflix devices, including Samsung blu-ray and X-Box. Gotta love nerds about my age.

Just returned from a gathering with old and new friends at Ecclesia 2012.  Here are my top twitter-quote #ecclesia2012 moments, in no particular order:

I’m not neo-reformed or neo-anabaptist. I’m neo-lumberjack. – @zhoag #ecclesia2012

— Zach Hoag explaining how a beard helps you bring the gospel in Vermont

Righteousness is always a relational issue. Vertical (God) is indistinguishable from Horizontal (others)  #ecclesia2012

— Dave Fitch on justice and justification

Hey! Jars for Clay is my favorite rock band. Who’s with me? #ecclesia2012

— Dave Fitch explains cultural relevance.

We wanted to do church with meals, so that no one could say “we’re not getting fed here” @mrajswoboda #ecclesia2012

— AJ Swoboda on starting their new church plant with future hope and past pain and a little bit of wit.

“‘I go to a church that preaches the Bible.’ So what?! Go to a church that DOES the Bible.” Don Coleman #ecclesia2012

— Don Coleman preached the Spirit into the room with humility, strength, and just a little bit of volume.

Christmas morning at #ecclesia2012 = Don Coleman bringing it. He’s a preaching amusement park. #ecclesia2012

— Matt Tebbe has a way with words.

Love a community: Come in low. Let them tell you stories on how it used to be. Eat food you never heard of #nowhitehorse D Coleman #ecclesia2012

— Don Coleman on the photo-reality of humbly bringing the gospel to a neighborhood.

We think of Church as a Pirate Island #ecclesia2012

— Keas Keasler on establishing an insurgency

Joy is being connected with someone who is glad to be with you. #ecclesia2012

— Cyd Holsclaw shares deep stories of understanding God’s unrelenting nearness

Skinny jeans. Chucks. Grandpa sweater. Black glasses and @mrajswoboda It looks like the dream of the 90s is alive in Maryland. #ecclesia2012

— Portlandia put a bird on the Ecclesia National Gathering.

I just returned from Washington DC and my fourth gathering with Eccleisia: a network of missional churches. GCM helps a number of folks here raise ministry funds, but I didn’t just attend for my role. Instead, this community, which has both old and new friends for me, has increasingly been a personal fresh wind in my sails as I struggle with what it means to follow hard after God in the church, and watch others do the same.

Some short reflections:

Academic

This year’s gathering was decidedly less academic than past years: Dunn, Barth, Yoder, Haurwass, Wright, Willard—these names were present in passing quotes but did not hold focus. Instead the daily stories seemed more vivid than ever: cooking BBQ ribs for the semi-homeless, speaking Jesus into Republican and Democrat talking points, children contributing to home group discussions. There were laughter and tears about the things people say to church planters. There were moments of high vision and low reality checks.

I would be sad if some of the informed and honest theological dialog faded from Eccleisia’s DNA, but this year seemed a welcome path through the less abstract.

Momentum

Ecclesia hasn’t ever tried to create a Conference in the Large Video Screens, Sponsors, Christian Buzz sense. And the gathering seemed somewhat smaller than last years. But while size sometimes feels like momentum (or lack), this didn’t feel like the case here. Maybe it was simply the stories of faithfulness and failure, but Momentum seemed to be everywhere.

Being a Part

I originally sought out Ecclesia because I was thinking seriously of what it would mean to launch into a new church plant. Who and How and Where? Instead, my path has taken a different route as I help lead GCM, which puts me in an ancillary role: constantly working with church planters, but never doing it myself. How do I feel about that?

There was a moment in the last two days when I felt sad: when Ecclesia did an amazing job of having new church planters stand up front and welcomed them with personal exhortations. Didn’t I have a dream to be up there? For I moment, I was tempted to feel I didn’t belong. But reflection points out the many other minutes where the shared mission and mutual hospitality made me feel right in the center of things, cared for, and excited to help and challenge others.

Plenty more thoughts on ideas, people, and God-work at the conference, but on the whole, I felt encouraged by being in the company of friends on the same mission.  Oh, and here are my top 10 twitterquotes of the gathering.