A New Understanding of Connection...

One thing I read often about my generation and the ones following is that there is a deep longing for connection. This is usually followed by statements about how due to the fact that young people move a lot, don't know their neighbors, don't have smaller communities they gather with (like PTA or church groups), that young people seek ways to connect with each other outside traditional ways. And, because most of these observations are written by people of older generations, there is usually some sort of judgment about how bad these attempts at connection are.
I have to say that I have come to appreciate one of these ways of connecting with people a lot. I joined Facebook to have more ways to communicate with my friend Krista who is serving as a missionary in Germany. I also loved that I could connect with other friends on Facebook--and this has allowed me to have more communication with people I had not had that kind of connection with up to that point. I even recruited my husband Joel to facebook. (And because we run in clergy and teacher circles-- it seems like a lot of clergy and teachers are on Facebook!)
When I went into labor, it was pretty incredible to be sitting in the labor and delivery room updating our facebook status to let our friends know what was happening. We could ask for prayers and let a whole bunch of folks know without making a ton of phone calls. We even were able to post pictures of Kat quick-like so that our friends near and far could see our beautiful daughter not long after her birth.
I've joked with some friends and family that Kat was born via Facebook. I cannot tell you how much I appreciated and continue to appreciate that connection with friends. While I may not see them or talk with them, there is an intimate sense of connection I've enjoyed that's hard to explain. It is amazing to me how the internet can connect people in powerful ways. While it might not be the same thing as sitting across the table from someone in a PTA meeting or a Bible Study, likely drinking bad coffee, applications like Facebook have become a real "third place" for people like me.

Psalm 23 and Pink Floyd

Between feedings I picked up the latest issue of Christian Century (August 26, 2008) and saw something in the "Century Marks" that caught my attention. There towards the bottom of the page was a note about a question asked by Professor Peter Hawkins of Boston University (my alma mater for seminary). He asked his Intro class on the Bible if they had heard the 23rd Psalm. Apparently, after he recited it, people recognized parts of it-- but did not know that it was originally in the Bible. Students thought it was from a Pink Floyd song, from rapper Coolio's song, "Gangsta's Paradise," or Pulp Fiction (but that was wrong-- that was actually a quote from the cheerful book of Ezekiel). According to Professor Hawkins, "My students knew their movies and their lyrics but not the biblical source of 'the valley of the shadow of death.'"
It strikes me funny that these kind of notes show up in stuff like Christian Century. Why, you ask? Folks within the Church seem to expect that young people will at least know what we would consider to be basic things about the Bible and faith. What this note helps to point out is that we cannot assume people know what we consider to be basic things of faith. That in fact it is modern artists-- movie makers, rappers, rock stars, authors-- who are teaching young people aspects of spirituality. Some of the best communicators of faith in the last generation have been people outside of the Church. (That's not new, but it seems to be new every time I read something like I did in Christian Century!).
It begs us folk on the inside to do a few things-- a gut check about what we assume people ought to know, and also, to realize that art is an important and under-utilized resource/gift. Perhaps it is another nudge to embrace art-- in all of its diversity and creativity!