The first time i saw my local church
pastor, Rev Awazie, go up the pulpit with his ipad (it was in a wake-keep
service), i felt so proud of him that i told the person beside me, ‘Yea! That’s
my Pastor...’ lol.
What is the place of Gadgets in our
worship? To enhance worship or has it become a distraction too?
I remember when these smartphones just hit
the shelves. Chei! Ushers in our church had clashes with members whilst trying
to maintain decorum...
‘brother please put away your phone, the sermon is on’ #the culprit gives the usher a
look of are-you-just-jealous-or-plainly-ignorant?# ,then he says, ‘thank you but i’m reading my bible on my
phone’ .Reluctantly the usher would back-down to avoid a scene. I imagined
part of what will pass through the usher’s mind...#with eyes rolling# ’what
insolence! if not that we’re in church ehn.... hmmm... who does he think he
is... Or Father forgive them though they know what they do....
Those around me know I’m a ‘gadget’ person.
Modems, Blackberry, Androids, Ipad #eehm,
okay i don’t have an Ipad yet, but I’ve listed it so you can get me one after
reading this...lol. don’t harden your heart o#
Okay, back to our gist, gadgets in church
can really be cool, efficient, swaggy, and sometimes distracting. For instance,
you’re in the middle of this hot sermon, checking the Hebrew translation of one
scripture on your blackberry and PING! You hear that ever familiar sound PING! . You’d mutter under your breath,
‘who could be pinging me in church?’,
the brilliant red light is blinking all over the place, calling for
attention...tell me you didn’t read that ping?
Or hasn’t it ever happened that whilst you
were in church, during a service, an email suddenly drops on your Ipad. You
decide take a peek (saying in your mind, I’ll read it later) then you realize
it’s an ‘important’ mail, perhaps one you’ve been expecting, an international
business mail, visa approval, or from your lost cousin...tell me you didn’t quickly
read that email?
Putting your gadget away and paying
attention to those talking to you? There’s an App for that, it’s called
‘RESPECT’. Even your spouse gets pissed
when during a conversation and you are busy pinging or responding to an email,
let’s not mention your boss, how much more God.
I’m sure a lot of us have several marked
highlighted, underlined and even painted parts of our bible (hard copy, i
mean), and one day you were flipping through or searching for a passage;
suddenly one marked verse strikes you, the Holy Spirit begins to minister to
your soul...that wouldn’t have happened on your gadget.
Yea, yea...i know all about bookmarking of
favourite passages on your device but nothing really compares to the rugged
good old hard copy bible. You don’t have to press ‘Power On’ to read it.
In all these, i am the ‘chiefest’ of
sinners. I’ve also gotten tired of feeling guilty and apologising to the Holy
Spirit each time i distract myself. I quit whining about my ‘easily besetting
sin’ and found me a cure; where do we draw the line between use of our gadgets
as worship enhancements or distraction?
Tips:
1.
Don’t bother
bringing it to church, that way there’s zero chance of temptation
2.
Switch off the
internet before entering church , that way no mails or pings can drop
3.
Preload or
download offline versions of the bible on your gadget, that way you won’t worry
about going live online to get a passage, commentary or translation
4.
Exercise
restraint, stop your amateur videos and paparazzi during service, you’re
distracting other brethren. Thankfully media produces CD’s each Sunday, buy
them instead
5.
Come each Sunday
with your rugged big old bible and jotter, that way you don’t get to doze and
you’re actively engaged
As for me, I’ve decided nothing can
separate me, not NEPA or PHCN, not MTN, AIRTEL, GLO, ETISALAT or any other
consistently unstable network, not virus, nor gadget hanging palava, not swag
nor business, not convenience nor whatever else will separate me from my Bible.
Maintain decorum in the use of your gadget
today, don’t miss your blessing and if it’s too much of a bother send it to me, I can put it to excellent use #winks#
BERYL EHONDOR
berylehondor@gmail.com
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