Thursday, April 09, 2009

Is it possible to be too high tech?

A week or so ago as I was working out in my living room with my WiiFit virtual trainer and keeping track of calories burned on my iPhone while my iRobot was vacuuming the bedroom, I realized that I had become perhaps a little too comfortable with the new technologies.

Consider - my electronic calendar is set to alarm when it's time to prepare for an appointment or take medications. I have 7 different translations of the Bible with Acpocrypha at my fingertips, so I don't actually have to carry a "real" Bible any more. I can keep my journal and write my gratitude lists electronically, never having to pick up an actual pen or using one of the beautiful journals I keep buying for myself. I have even discovered that I can download entire books in any genre you care to name directly to my phone, so I never have to spend time browsing the aisles of Barnes and Noble again. Most of my friends and even some parishioners are easier to reach by text than phone or email. Of course, the danger with that, u c, is I tnd 2 rite in txt instd of "real" English.

I almost wish I had a Prayer Counter application like my Calorie Counter one. Instead of showing a red line when I go over my daily budget of calories, the line wouldn't turn green until I had spent at least 30 minutes in prayer, meditation or journalling.

But no. Prayer is still a communication between me and God with nothing in the way - no App Store, no webmaster, no "server isn't responding." It is a time away from all that, from all the noise and bells and whistles and bongs and chimes. I'm grateful that tomorrow I have to stop using all the electronics for an hour when it is my turn to pick up the Good Friday Prayer Vigil. That I will get to spend one hour in silent prayer, alone with myself and God, to contemplate the sorrow of those who witnessed the crucifixion and to remember God's grace that is so lovingly given in the resurrection of the Christ.

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