Social Media: What's the use?

I really do like much of what the "Social Media" revolution has brought us. Through e-mail we can send out quick notes to people instead of letters, saving paper and the cost of stamps. Through blogging we are linked to untold numbers of articles, pictures and videos that we never would have known existed otherwise. Through Facebook many of us have "re-connected" with old friends, and maybe even made new acquaintances. Through Twitter we can see what all our favorite celebrities, politicians and friends are up to at that very second. I participate in all of these things because like I said, "I really do like much of what the 'Social Media' revolution has brought us."

That being said, Social Media also can be a HUGE waste of time. We can spend half our day sifting through junk e-mail or responding to unimportant e-mail. Blogging can easily turn into the rantings of mad men (that no one besides him reads), with hyper critical analysis of everything and everyone. Facebook can consume a person with games, constant narcissistic status updates (Example: "Heading to 7-11 for a bagel, yeah, that's how I roll." To which the first comment should be: "Who cares?"), even silly debates in the comment section of someone's post. (Frank Admission: I'm not picking on anyone in particular here except for myself; I have played the annoying games, posted incredibly self-exalting stuff, and debated people all in the alternate universe of Facebook). Yes, social media is ultimately media. It's not something inherently bad, nor is it inherently good. It is media that we can use for good or use for bad.

As a Pastor I use Facebook and Twitter to quote Scripture, or link to articles by thoughtful Christian writers. I send out sermons on video, and will make announcements to my Church body about upcoming events. Social Media is useful that way. It can be a small part of Pastoral ministry.

But there are things I just can't do through Social Media that are absolutely essential to serving the sheep. I can't hold the hand of the suffering through Social Media ("Sorry I didn't visit you in the hospital, but I did send you a message via Twitter."); through Social Media I can't see facial expressions so all I can do is "take a person's word for it" (That can be very deceiving. What they are writing may not be what they are saying). I can't hug a person, or counsel a person; I can't speak the Word into their lives at just that right moment, nor can I pray with them.

No matter how much media we have come between us, ultimately the calling of the Christian is to be next to and live with people; real flesh and blood people face to face. The model is Jesus: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us...." Helmut Thielicke commenting on the importance of the Incarnation said this:

“Jesus Christ did not remain at base headquarters in heaven, receiving reports of the world’s suffering from below and shouting a few encouraging words to us from a safe distance. No, he left the headquarters and came down to us in the front-line trenches, right down to where we live and worry about what the Bolsheviks (Communists) may do, where we contend with our anxieties and the feeling of emptiness and futility, where we sin and suffer guilt, and where we must finally die. There is nothing that he did not endure with us. He understands everything.”

Social Media is fine. Use it. Ultimately though use it in a way that shows we're like our Media-tor Jesus Christ, who indeed did come down, got his hands dirty and in the process saved the world.