IM or I AM?

Have you noticed an interesting phenomenon that is occurring in our churches on Sunday morning? I'm talking about an electronic one. 3G, 4G, 5G, many people are using Kindle, Nook, various apps and internet weblinks to follow along during the worship service. Some congregations have begun to notice and address this issue. We discuss whether or not this is a positive development: Does this enhance or detract from our "worship experience?" Probably the answer is "It depends."

When I am listening to a sermon, I frequently find myself looking forward and backward in the bible, contextualizing the passage being dealt with, following references and the like and honestly, sometimes following rabbit trails that come up. I can't help it, I think that the Bible is pretty cool, but I am, at that point, distracted from the message the pastor is giving. Is that different from the distraction of the electronic device? I don't think so, at least in the case of a person using the device for the Bible app or concordance or commentary features. But what if it's being used for something else?

Last Sunday, as I moved through the congregation to get a note out to the worship team, I noticed several people using their electronic devices to access social media, or text, or check email and I thought "Seriously? Can you not stay with me one hour?" Are we in our churches on Sundays to be with the One God, to focus our lives for a short time solely on Him, or has our outside world interrupted that as well? Even when we are perusing the Bible separate from the sermon, it would appear we are still engaging with God. With whom are we engaging when we are on facebook? I haven't seen a home page for the Triune God. The enemy would love to distract us, to pull us from our attention to God and place the attention on other things, specifically on ourselves. In the movie The Fighting Temptations when Cuba Gooding's phone goes off in the sanctuary, the pastor remarks "Son, if that ain't Jesus calling, shut it off..." When do we take that approach? How do we address this issue?

I am all for the positive, effective use of electronic media. It is a part of our world, we effectively use technology to enhance worship. The technology itself is benign, it's the application that concerns me. Our world distracts and inundates us every day of the week. We are "connected" constantly. Don't you wish sometimes at work you could have a "no email" day? Why do we have to bring that to our places of worship? I think that we could at least take the time we are worshipping and commit our focus for even that brief time on the God who gave all for us. So what is it - IM or I AM?