Four-Dimensional Faith - November 13
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 88; PM Psalm 91, 92; Joel 2:28-3:8; James 1:16-27; Luke 16:1-9
Today’s Reflection
Lately (let’s say the past eight months or so), I feel like I am seeing my own face a lot more than usual. It’s not that I’m stopping to look at myself in the mirror more often—it’s that I’m seeing my face on my own computer and phone. All. The. Time.
I see my face, alongside the faces of my colleagues, in my Zoom meetings for work. I see myself on my computer and phone as I lead daily prayer services on Facebook. I see myself when I watch the Sunday livestreams on YouTube (which I do usually watch, after the fact, to get a sense of what you all are seeing and hearing as you worship at home).
This is the new normal. And yet, it is important to note that this is also not normal. In pre-pandemic life, we only saw other everyone else’s faces in meetings, worship, and other gatherings. On the one hand, I’m getting used to it. On the other hand, I’m also aware that the mediated version of me (and you) is a version that is once removed—and this mediated version of reality that can only convey a partial sense of who we really are.
In grad school, I took a whole course on Communication and Technology. Now that was 20 years ago, and the way communication and technology intersect has evolved a lot since then. But much of what I learned about the theories and research on comm and tech still holds true. The technology we use to communicate with one another influences the nature of what ends up being communicated. As Marshall McLuhan famously declared, “The medium is the message.”
So, as I read the passage appointed from James for today, what stood out to me is this: “But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing” (1:22-24).
In this uber-mediated atmosphere in which we now find ourselves, when so much of what many of us are doing as workers and worshippers is happening online, it’s important not to lose touch with the reality of who we are and whose we are. I am more than who I am on my screen or on your screen—and so are you. While I do believe that we are doing much meaningful work and worship through the media of Zoom and YouTube and Facebook and so on, we also must keep reminding ourselves that we are more than the 2-D version of ourselves we show each other on our screens. As James reminds us, “those who look into the perfect law… and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing” (1:25).
How do we push ourselves to live out this kind of four-dimensional faith, to “be doers of the word, and not merely hearers” (1:22)? James gives us a few ideas: “be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger” (1:19). And as James declares so very clearly: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (1:27). The Body of Christ is made tangible in the ways that we care for one another—by listening deeply, by choosing our words compassionately, and by sharing generously with those in need.
To be the Body of Christ, we are called to push ourselves beyond hearing and seeing and into doing and being.
—Becky+
Questions for Self-Reflection
Reflecting on your own life and habits, what does it mean to you to be a “doer of the word” and not just a hearer?
Daily Challenge
What is a specific or tangible way that you can enact or embody the Word of God in your daily life this week?