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Pastor's Letter -September 2010
I'd been thinking about it for more than a year, and in early August I finally did it: I bought a Kindle, Amazon's e-book reader. I have always been a voracious reader, but more than that, I have always loved books. The idea of an electronic book reader at first left me cold. Still, my fascination with things technological stirred me, so I finally hit the "Order" button.
Now, a month later, I can say I am hooked. I love the fact that I can order a book and have it downloaded into the Kindle within minutes. I love the fact that e-books are less expensive than paper books. I love the fact that I am saving a tree or two. But what I like best is the fact that I can enlarge the typefont on the screen and make the pages of any book easier to read.
I'm still buying regular books - many of the theological books that fill my shelves aren't available in e-book format and probably never will be. But still, the technology fascinates me. I have always been an eager consumer of new technology. I was an early Apple fan; my home computer has consistently been a Mac for 20 years. I have always found Windows a poor and cumbersome attempt to mimic the best of Apple.
I don't plan to lobby for an "All-Mac" office at the church, but I am always looking for new ways to incorporate technology in the church. You may not think we are a "high-tech" church, but just look around: you'll find technology everywhere.
We've been working the past few years to update and upgrade all our office computers to assure that everyone has a reliable and efficient workstation. We've installed wireless connection in the office and are hoping to expand our wireless capability to the rest of the building over the next year or so.
We're putting a flat-screen television in Room 5 to provide us with more opportunities to view the growing number of excellent DVD presentations available on the books of the Bible, the life of Jesus, and the story of the church. This Fall I'll be leading our Wednesday and Thursday Bible Study groups through Professor Diarmaid MaCulloch's 6-part series entitled "Three Thousand Years of Christian History." We hope to have a Sunday morning Adult Education class use the DVDs as well.
If you haven't visited our website in a while, have a look (www.mpc-va.org). Ann Curtis works diligently to keep it up to date. We are hoping to be able to provide MP3 audio files of worship services and sermons before long as yet another addition to the site.
In giving us the Great Commission to "go and make disciples of all nations..." Jesus may not have been thinking about the Internet, or iPods, or texting, or blogs, but he would no doubt encourage us to use all means available to us to share the good news. Bits, bytes - it doesn't matter, for it is always the Word of the Lord.
Grace & peace,
Prayer:
"O Spirit of God, mighty river, flow over me, in me, through me. O Spirit of God, cleanse me, purify the channels of my life. O Spirit of God, bear me along with your flood of life-giving service. O Spirit of God, mighty river, bear me down to the ocean, the ocean of your love. O Spirit of God, mighty fire, glow in me, burn in me, until your radiance fills my soul. O Spirit of God, mighty fire, may your light illumine my mind. O Spirit of God, mighty fire, may your heat consume my will until I burn for you.May the flames of your love ever blaze upon the altar of my heart."
