Day 6 – Phone, Text, for Video Chat a Friend
I want to suggest that you phone,
text, or video chat with a friend or family member to connect with an encourage
the other person. Today I spontaneously reached out to my friend and fellow
pastor, Jeff Cannell. He didn't know I was going to contact him via Facetime so
I was taking a risk in calling him. His daughter is a member of our church, but
she had to go home because they have closed classes at the University of
Chicago. This video chat was a surprise.
Jeff picked up, and after we both
agreed that we were exhausted, I told Jeff that he was live on one of my video
reflections and told him I was suggesting today that people phone, text, and
video chat with a friend. I thought he would be all right with it, but I knew
he was okay when he said, “I love it. A video of a video. How meta.” He then started to talk about how Columbus
instituted a stay at home order. He went on share that they had a whole awesome
video set up in their living room to broadcast a service, but it failed. Then they tried Facebook Live, and that
didn't work. Then they had to go with a
low-tech video option. I told him that
I believe God used that in people's lives.
He said that his second grade teacher actually tuned in to watch the
service. She was his favorite teacher, so he was really honored by that.
He has a full household of 5 in
the home. I told him that I had just been texting with Kathleen because she had
texted me about the service. He said had caught part of it. I joked with him that I wasn't surprised that
he only caught part of it because our service today was two and half hours
long. He responded by saying, “You're changing culturally. The culture of your
service is browning a bit.” Jeff has
been a big supporter of the diversity of our church, and he has a tremendous
respect for all cultures.
He went on to say, “I have been
talking to my neighbors here, and I say to them, 'when we stream church, that
is a service, but church is our neighborhood and coming together in the love of
Jesus to love on people, so I talked to our neighbors and say 'Hey, let's all
sit on our front porch when it warms up a bit and have a cup of coffee and talk
to each other very loudly.”
I thanked him, told him that I
love him, and told him that appreciated him taking this call. I said to say
“hi” to Kathleen for me, and he said she misses Hyde Park Vineyard. I told him
that we miss her here. Then we said goodbye.
A lot of times when we feel
isolated, we don't break the ice and reach out to somebody else.
Give somebody a phone call
today. Reach out to them. Tell them how much you care about them. Share
a few moments together. Fellowship with each other does not have to be in
person. Believe that God will use the opportunities we currently have to
connect via phone, text, or video to mutually encourage each other. So reach
out today to somebody and express your love to them.
“Let us hold unswervingly to the
hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the
habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day
approaching (Hebrews 10:23-25).”
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