Of Spats and Splits: New Life In Corinth

  • Friday, September 16, 2011
  • 1 Corinthians 1:10-18

    They had to hear it together…

    Once in a while your attention is arrested by something totally out of place or out of its time. It happened a couple of Sundays back as we walked into lunch. We both seemed to notice it at the same time…on both sides of the hallway there were pay phones! Little secluded privacy places with massive telephones hanging on the wall, phone books resting beneath the shelf (Remember phone books? Lots of pages with names, addresses and numbers all across the page and typically the page YOU needed had been torn out by someone!) with slots for coins to be dropped in order to make these antiques operational. Pay phones! Yup, right here in downtown Lincoln in 2011. We smiled, noticed them as being so out of place and walked on to our table carrying our Blackberry, iPhone and iPads. Amazing! Communication has certainly changed in a few short years!

    Texting?
    · Its own vocabulary, choppy thoughts, incomplete sentences, bullet concepts at best…without it, you can forget about connecting with the grandkids!

    Twitter?
    · 140 characters including spaces. Boil that idea down to simple thoughts and summarize while sustaining the intrigue. Friends you don’t even know will follow your every thought!

    E-mail?
    · Saves walking down the hallway to actually have a conversation. Can be long or short. But it lacks body language, facial expression and human connection. Best advice? Let that cursor flash! Write it…walk away…come back and read it…then, if you must, hit send!


    Blog?
    · It really IS all about me! And who knows how many people really DO care about me?

    Facebook?
    · Nobody, and I do mean NO-BODY, loves me like me! So, I just keep talking about myself, my life, my interests, my anxieties and my glamorous life…and whenever possible post some pictures of me so you can become as enamored with me as I am with me!

    Letter?
    · What’s a letter?

    Their spiritual father in the faith heard an unsettling series of reports, which stirred his soul to action; so he sat down to write them a letter. Not having the convenience of the Postal Service (another thing which may soon also become an item of the past), he places the rolled up communication into the hands of trusted men who deliver it to the brothers and sisters of this infant church. They all gathered together to hear its reading. No Kinkos, no photocopiers, no scanners. One copy…one reader…one gathering.

    “For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you.” 1 Corinthians 1:11

    And they had to hear it together…

    See you Sunday, Church!

    Pastor Tom

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