Pastor Jim Jackson
Richmond Hill Presbyterian Church
Seems to be happening everywhere. I would call it depersonalization of our society. Therein the human element in interaction among ourselves appears to be on the wain.
Walk into a McDonalds and immediately you are confronted with a device with which you are asked to make your food order. Then there’s the drive-thru. A hidden voice from someone you cannot see takes your order and informs you what it costs. Often it appears to me that the restaurant’s main focus is upon those drive thru customers, while you stand waiting inside for an in person worker to say: “Welcome to McDonalds.
What would you like? Dine in or out?”
Remember when barber shops offered lots of opportunity for personal interaction? That’s saying nothing about community gossip. Not so much anymore.
Many now greet you with a computer in which you register and which asks for more information than you are comfortable answering. Hey, I only want a haircut. Why do your need my email address and telephone number?
Once there was a time when people shopping outside the home. Now you order on line then pick it up in the parking lot or Fed EX drops it at your front door. Then how about all this talk about driver-less trucks and cars? To be honest, which preachers ought to practice, I’m not comfortable tooling down I 95 with no human at the wheel and facing eighteen wheelers on my rear bumper. Do they brake for possums? If so, better keep your eyes on the road. And who’s gonna stop and help that little ole lady change a flat tire?
Cell phones. A blessing or a curse? They can enrich or curse our lives ,depending upon whether we can remove them from our eyes and ears to personally engage with others face to face. I’ll confess it isn’t easy. I actually believe I’m addicted. How much better it would be if I spent two hours a day in personal conservation with God and others. I remind myself, God doesn’t have an email address and I often wish I didn’t.
Honestly, I don’t believe this little epistle is gonna change a thing—well maybe relieve the heartburn I accomplished trying to cope with our ever-changing world. How good to know that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Oh, and aren’t we glad God didn’t email us rather than sending his Son! That’s personal and up close.