Words That Didn't Exist Ten Years Ago

With technical help from friend and web site designer Nathan Delle I recently redesigned our church's web presence www.fumcgarland.org. And, thanks to Google Analytic, I realize just how important are web communications in this age of the Internet. We are urged by those who know to have a presence on things that didn't exist a few years ago: The Web, Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs. Why? Because it is the culture of communications for the current and next generation.

A quick scan of history finds numerous examples of how popular religious figures used the changing landscape of communications to reach the masses with words of hope and courage. John Wesley was mortified when invited to take the preached word out of the Holy Church and onto the hillside outside the mines of England. The success was phenomenal and evolved into putting preachers on horseback to literally "pony express" a message of hope to where the people lived.

At the turn of the 20th century Aimee Semple McPherson used the emerging culture of radio to pioneer a renewal of spiritual energy in America. Modern Evangelical preachers were quick to adopt the use of radio and television to shape an understanding of Christianity that is not indicative of all who are Christian but certainly the most recognized.

It is not an oversimplification to say that the success of the Christian message can be traced to its adapting to popular culture. Though Jesus spoke Arabic in a culture where the holy writ was recorded in Hebrew while the earliest writings of the Church now canonized into our modern day Bible were all written in Greek. The culture in which the church grew to world wide stature was not that of a Jewish prophet but of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

The most influential, early Church Fathers were products of this Greek culture. They bridged the message of Jesus as experienced in the life of first century notables like Peter and Paul into a cohesive understanding for a totally different people. Though the culture of Jesus was worlds apart from theirs, they already shared an affinity for the principles he espoused. How to scaled the wall that divided them was a matter for cultural interpretation.

Grab a cup and when we get back I want to take you on a journey to see how these early philosophers impacted modern thinking in areas that are often beyond our ability to imagine much less comprehend. And that in itself is a major part of how it all began--imagination, that is, not the coffee.

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