Going Tech

For about a year I have read or heard colleagues, the Ohio Meadville District office, the Alban Institute, and even a video for new seminarians from the UU Starr King School for the Ministry encourage ministers to “go tech.”  The thinking is that social networking, website communication, and on-line announcements are the way most folks communicate these days, and the way of the future.  And as clergy, if we don’t get “tech savvy” we (and our denomination) will be left behind.

As many of you know, I have resisted.  But this summer I’ve gone tech.  With the vision and graphic eye of Michelina Olmstead, the skill of a professional web designer, Mike Gais, photographs submitted by Don Lancaster, and user friendly software we not only have a “state-of-the-art” website but Holly and I can make regular weekly and monthly updates.  This is the place to learn about what is happening at First UU.  There are also links on our home page to the UUA website, the Ohio Meadville website, and the UU WORLD website.  A plan to link to local businesses that support our church, particularly those who offer goods and services for our Annual Auction is also underway.

I’m excited and proud and grateful for all of your help and suggestions, so why did I resist.  There is something pastoral in my heart that calls me to remind us to take a breath or maybe give our partner and/or children a hug in between all the email and Facebook messages.

I am old enough to remember the first generation of computers – huge, hot, things that had loud fans and big, fat data diskettes.  My early image of a computer was a really big calculator that could add and subtract and do algebra faster than any human.  Today my computer is my not-to-be-without assistant – it tells me the time, keeps my calendar, allows me to talk with friends and family overseas for free, gives me up-to-date weather and international news, emails me throughout the day of events trivial and significant, and it is the system I used to write this article.  Our church computer has become another office assistant who keeps all of our information flowing smoothly (I hope).  Of course, Holly and I have had to learn some new programs this summer, but without the computer we certainly couldn’t get as much done as we are able to do in a typical church office week.  But is more and faster always better?

This same technology allows humans to create more efficient and deadly weapons of war, and hackers are the robbers of our time, and if Unitarian Rod Serling were still creating “The Twilight Zone” a world in which computers rules and contact between humans could only happen through the monitoring of a computer would sure to be a spine tingling episode.
A July 26, Upfront Opinion by John Yemma, the Christian Science Monitor Editor begins with a photo of Walter Cronkite visiting one of those ancient early computers I mentioned above, with the caption, “And that’s the way tech was—and will be.” In his opinion Yemma writes:
Our species has always devised new tools and lamented the loss of old ways.  Storytelling around a fire yielded to the written word.  Laboriously illuminated manuscripts were displaced by movable type.  Then, of course, came the computer. . . We layer invention atop invention, celebrate our progress, and cope with the consequences.  But behind each new technological revolution is the nagging question:  Have we gone too far?

I don’t think our new website or our First UU Facebook Page is going too far.  But I do think we each need to be reminded to find the right balance of tech and nature in our lives for ourselves and for our families.  And maybe it’s a reason to suggest we all come to church more often.  We need an hour a week when we turn off the tech and tune into the still, small voice within and be together in community with each other.

Looking forward to seeing you in church and around town,
Rev joan