Right from the start let me say I am refusing to give up social media for lent but it doesn’t bother me if you do. At all. And if you have given it up then you probably won’t be reading this anyway!
Also this isn’t an anti “giving-up-social-media-for-lent-rant”
I have previously fasted from social media before and I found it incredibly helpful to put aside distractions and make sure that I actively spent time with my bible when I would be otherwise engaged. But this year feels different.
In fact this lent I’m making an active decision to engage more with these forms of media than I have before.
I have on many occasion struggled with social media. I have been told to keep quiet and stop tweeting so much. I have had to unfollow people who have been abusive and block people who I know “report back” what I say to others. I’ve been ignored (or so it seemed), unfollowed and misunderstood.
Yet it is a place that I have found the most beautiful friendships, ones that have moved to an off line level that I wouldn’t swap for the world. People that I speak to over Skype, on the phone (some a few times a week (you know who you are!) I’ve met people at conferences, over a beer, curry, spoken to some in Scotland, America (thank you FaceTime). I’ve brought families together and even have someone who I met on twitter who is, I hope, going to be a trustee of Our charity.
Twitter, Facebook, Skype, FaceTime, iMessage, WordPress, Path, foursquare even pinterest.
Through all of these various networks I have built up an amazing group of friends. This is on top of those people I knew already and had in my life.
And the thought now of giving this up?
I’m made to be social (although I am in truth quite an introvert). The father, son and holy spirit are separate and yet are one in the same. And we were made in His image.
Gen 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness
We are made to be in the likeness of God in His triune state. “made in OUR image”. To me this speaks of community with God but also with others. If we are made in THEIR image then we need to see how they operate. Constantly we see God wanting to draw his people together, Jesus responded to people when he saw their need and the Holy Spirit ministers to his people. People, people, people.
Like I said this is not a bashing of silence/fasting and solitude. They are important. But this lent I am choosing to engage more, learn more, be fed more, be welcomed more and enjoy more the company of my fellow travellers.
I feel very much the same this year Will. A few people have jokingly told me I should give up social media for Lent. Firstly I can’t because it’s my day job! Secondly, it reminds me of something Sister Catherine (@digitalnun) said, ‘you wouldn’t unplug your phone so that no one could contact you in an emergency’ – this coming from a nun who spends a lot of time in silence and solitude. Giving up social media would be like giving up on friendship and pastoral care for me.