By Stuart Swartzentruber
FaceTime was introduced by Apple in 2010. This technology allowed individuals who were kilometres (miles for the non-metric world) or continents apart to connect face to face through their smart phones. We have achieved a level of omnipresence through the internet and other technological advances. Today there is even an app you can download called omniPresence if you are a Mac user!
As followers of Jesus, we can preach, teach, disciple, be discipled, attend church, and evangelize without ever being in physical proximity to another person. We have podcasts, video, and internet-based tools, along with live-streamed church services that produce an astonishing amount of information and facts. We “like” video clips of the latest “favourite” person we are “following.” As the Body of Christ, it is possible to do all of this without human interaction. I wonder sometimes what Jesus thinks of me? Of us?
The Son of God was omnipresent. As God, Jesus could have easily conveyed all the needed information to every culture, race, and people in this world without living here. He could have used a cosmic megaphone to proclaim truth that was understood perfectly in all of the earth’s languages. He could have entered the world the night before his death, shed his blood for our sins, been resurrected three days later, and headed back to heaven.
But He didn’t.
Jesus laid down omnipresence. He came to earth and lived among us. He related to people one person at a time, one group at a time. He touched people, heard people, loved people, wept with people, and died for people. He did this to restore all things to the way they should be. Apparently efficiency wasn’t the only thing Jesus was after.
We live in an age where we have many wonderful tools to use in God’s amazing kingdom, but we must resist the urges of our efficiency-driven culture. Sometimes slow is better. Sometimes less is more.
In this issue of Hopelines you will read a story of a youth group who traveled many kilometres to join forces with a church in North Caribou Lake. They entered another culture’s world and had real facetime together. You will also read about a young man from Pikangikum who encountered people face to face on a trip to Nicaragua.
We have a staff at LHNM who are committed to living incarnational lives in the cities and remote communities of Ontario. We are looking for others who are willing to take up this challenge. Are you one of them?
