Proper
8 A 2014
Father Adam Trambley
June 29, 2014 St.John’s Sharon
This morning is Social Media Sunday in the Episcopal Church
and in a number of other churches. I’d
like to spend some time today on using social media to share the good news of
Jesus Christ and the love of God.
Specifically, we are going to do three things. First, we will look at a working definition
of social media. Second, we will think
about using social media of all types in ways that further the work of
evangelism. Then third, we are going to
have a small practicum, since we all learn best by doing and not just by
listening to somebody prattling on in a pulpit.
First, we want to think about social media. On the one hand, we popularly talk about
social media in terms of interactive on-line platforms – Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram and thousands of others similar applications. They allow people to connect with one
another, to share ideas, photos and videos, to form intentional communities and
to meet an array of human social needs with varying degrees of
effectiveness. In fact, for many,
especially for young people, the easiest way to stay connected with their
community of friends is through social media on their smartphones. Given the difficulties today of going down to
the corner ball field for a pick-up game and the reality of family and friends
being scattered across the country, our ability to connect with people in other
places anytime is probably a blessing, and usually not meant to be rude or
exclusionary to those around us.
At the same time, we all were engaged with social media
before the term “social media” was bandied about. “Social” just means people building community
in some way, and media is a method for doing something. People have always been finding effective
ways to get together for community.
While we might not think about them as such, old time social media
includes quilting bees, poker games, card clubs, golf outings, the pub where
“everybody knows your name”, Christmas card lists, inner city gangs, the local
PTA (which may be more ruthless than the inner city gangs), the EpiscopalChurch Women, and that front table at Panera where folks are social media-ing
themselves for a couple hours almost every day.
The materials for connecting may look different – papers, telephones,
wooden structures, or fancy electronic gadgets – but the new social media
serves the same purposes, and can be as positive or as unhelpful, as the
old. I want to emphasize that we are all
engaged in social media of some type or other, and we can all use that social
media to do the work of God in some way or other.
Just how do we do that work?
I’m glad you asked, because that brings us to my second point. We can all use social media for spreading the
good news of Jesus and the love of God in at least one very simple way. All we have to do is incorporate our church
life, our religious life, and our spiritual life into what we share in whatever
social media we are in. We certainly
don’t need to make it all that we share.
In fact, it shouldn’t be. We
should discuss family, friends, interests, and every topic under the sun with
others whether we are face-to-face or on-line.
But we shouldn’t exclude the role that Jesus, God, and St. John’s play
in our life, either.
The goal here is not to overwhelm people with piousness, or
to get them to sign a paper pledging their life to Jesus or even their fortune
to our upcoming capital campaign. The
goal is to let people know that God and his church matter to you so that people
can open a conversation with you about it when they are ready. Someone who follows your tweets or who sits
across from you at the Panera may be looking for a church, and if they know you
are part of one they can ask you about it.
A Facebook friend or someone at the bowling alley may be facing a difficult
time in their life, and if they know you have a faith life, they might be able
to ask you questions or to ask where you could guide them. A photo you post on Instagram or that you
pass across the table might inspire people to come and be a part of something
we are doing. These connections may not
happen all the time, but if they happened to most people here once or twice a
year, we just might start to run out of pew space.
Since some people have a hard time knowing how to share
about church or about God, here are a few suggestions. The easiest is just to tell people you went
to church. Slip it into a conversation
when people ask what you’re up to.
Rather than saying “same old, same old”, say something like, “I went to
church Sunday morning.” You might even
add, “I always feel better afterwards” or “I wanted to pray especially for
______” or “I didn’t even fall asleep during the sermon.” If your social media is on-line, post where
you are when you are at church. Another
option is to think of one good thing that happened at church this week, or in
your private prayers or in a church group you attended, and share it. “I liked this particular thing Father Adam
said.” “I liked this particular
hymn.” “I was glad to see so-and-so in
church this week.” Or “The flowers on the altar or the flowers outside were
beautiful.” You might also mention one of our ministries, since even non-church
people are interested in some of the things we are doing. “We’re feeding children lunch every day now at
St. John’s.” or “We are collecting
clothes that go to people that need them.” If you are on-line, post a photo of something
that struck you at church along with your thoughts. If
you can, post photos on the St. John’s Facebook page and comment there
too. For those who use Facebook, like
and share posts from other people about St. John’s or that are posted on the
St. John’s page, favorite and retweet such posts on Twitter, and do similar
things on other platforms, since that increases the likelihood that they will
be seen. If you are on Pinterest, make a
church board or a spirituality board or a prayer board and share things there
that matter to you. If you work these
types of points into your sharing, God can make use of them at the right time.
Now we get to the interactive portion of our sermon. We are going to take a few minutes this
morning and use social media in some of the ways we have talked about. For those of you who prefer non-electronic
social media, you will have homework.
The next time you are with people, share something about God, Jesus or
St. John’s with them, and keep doing so.
Those of you who use electronic social media, take out your Smartphones,
tablets or other portable electronic devices.
Yes, I said, “Take out your Smartphones.” Before we go further, here are Father Adam’s
Church Smartphone Guidelines:
1. Smartphones
(and tablets and other electronic devices) are permitted in church and you are
free to use them.
2. The
goal of using Smartphones is to allow you or others to be more involved in the
service, not to distract you. (Letting
people know where you are, sharing a photo, taking notes, or live tweeting the
sermon is great. Looking at grumpy cat
photos, not so much.)
3. Turn
off the sound and don’t distract other people with whatever technology you may
be using, including your voicebox – which is perhaps the oldest social medium.
4. Better
to post something on social media during the announcements, hymns, or times
when there is more noise or movement.
Better to put down the device and focus during the Eucharistic Prayer
and the Gospel. 5. God
loves you and is glad you are in church.
Do what you need to do, but try to maintain a spirit of worship and act
like a mature adult, even if you aren’t chronologically an adult yet.
6. Regardless
of these guidelines, do whatever your parents tell you to do (even if your
parents are now in their sixties). The
Ten Commandments trumps Father Adam’s Church Smartphone Guidelines.
With those guidelines in mind, take out your Smartphones and
post something about what is going on.
If you need to get into the aisle for a moment to take a picture, feel
free to do so. If you are on Facebook,
St. John’s is a Facebook location.
Please also tag me and others, so we can like and share your posts. If you are on twitter, our hashtag is
#stjohnssharon, and if you search that hashtag, you’ll find something to
retweet this morning. Please do so. There is also an #episcopal hashtag, for
those who are interested, and many folks throughout the church will be tweeting
as part of social media Sunday today with #episcopal. If you are on another platform, feel free to
set something up for us and let me or Diana know. If you want to write an app, you are free to
skip the Nicene Creed to work on it. If
none of this makes any sense at all to you, but you would like it to, let me
know and one of our young people can help you set up a Facebook account.
Thank you for participating in this morning, or later today,
in Social Media Sunday. May all your
social efforts, in whatever media, bear fruit thirty, and sixty, and a hundred-fold!
