Sunday Morning on Standard Time

Daylight Savings Time ended overnight.  My day just started, but it seems late already. Spring forward.

My regular pattern of getting up, showering and going to Sunday School was disrupted by a myriad of things, so I decided to drink some coffee at our local Starbucks (which amounts to a kiosk in a grocery store) and write a bit before I go to worship.

During many years as a pastor, this Sunday was always one of the worst of the year.  You lose an hour of sleep, you wake up a little jet-lagged, you show up to a congregation, and you quickly find out who didn't bother to change their clocks back (or you realize that many folks consider it a national holiday, and just don't get going).

It was on days like today that it would seem better to just phone it in.

And with the technology at our disposal, we could.

I personally don't recommend it for worship because I need to be in the presence of others when I make confession, when I pass the peace, and celebrate the sacraments.  Call me old-fashioned, but that's me.

On the other hand, I think of Christian education and formation as something that can be aided by technology. I think having a group of people in one space at a particular time is a good thing, but it is not the only way that education happens.

Over the years, I have done all kinds of things for classes and groups that I was leading when I was out of town or involved in another meeting.  Rather than postponing the class, or getting off of the lesson plan, I would create ways for the class to study the material without me being there.

Some examples:

• On numerous occasions, I videotaped (this was before digital media) me teaching or introducing the topic, and then giving directions for discussion.  My adult classes were very appreciative of this, and often said that the discussions were some of the best they had experienced at church.
• I have shared a "lesson plan" or a set of discussion questions with another member of the group who carried out a discussion during that group time.  I would make it a point to call or email the group during the week and get their feedback.
• I have called into a class or meeting and started the discussion by cell phone, and tried to participate from afar by conference call. This can be done using FaceTime, Google Hangouts, Skype or other means.
• Using Google Hangouts or Zoom, it would be easy to meet with the same small group without any of us being in the same place at the same time.  I have experienced a group Bible Study with 15 people using a paid conference call app.  It was not without its flaws, but we all met together without spending hundreds of miles on the road between us on Tuesday night.
• I have used free websites (Blogger, WordPress) as a depository of all of a class's discussions, a place to post links to articles and supplementary materials, and a discussion board. One might miss a class, but they could not say that they didn't know what was discussed at the last meeting.

This was low level technology that I have used over the last 20 years.  Imagine the possibilities if we harnessed the best of today's technology for Christian formation. (That's just what I plan to do in the coming months as a part of this experiment.)