Before the Internet?

It wasn't so long ago I using telnet on dialup to access the library catalogue. Can you remember back pre-internet? We phoned people, even wrote letters...on paper...with stamps! No email. No Youtube. Not even google. This week Egypt went back to the pre-Internet days when the government pulled the plug of internet and cell networks to quell protests. In Canada we have the CRTC decision which might mean the end of unlimited internet downloads. Just when iTunes and Netflix started having more to watch than cable. Coincidence?

Life is become entangled with the internet these days. I've been thinking of the churches that have enthusiastically adopted technology. New forms of church have been created that exist because of the internet. What would happen if the internet went away?

It would hard to go back, but as the people of Egypt quickly discovered there are other ways to spread the message. And churches have been very adept at using media to communicate long before the internet. Back in the 1940s Billy Graham's radio program "Hour of Decision", in the 1950s he moved to television and film. Film has long been important to communicate faith. In Mediating Religion there is an interesting essay that described the Roman Catholic church's congress on film in 1928, and notes the first papal encyclical Vigilanti Cura on cinema and social communication was issued in 1936! Though email is supplanting it, many churches still have the phone prayer chain to spread announcements to their members faster than any shampoo commercial! It never ceased to amaze me how fast news spread in my country pastorates; we'd have a church meeting in one village, and before I arrived in the next village everyone seemed to know what happened at the meeting. Beat that twitter!

I wouldn't want to give up the internet; but the world wouldn't end either.

Enjoy this Today show clip from 1994: "What is the internet anyway?"

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Dream, dream, dream...(What I want to be when I grow up.)

Let's face it, we all have to pay the bills (bobs, visas and BMOs). But what would I do if I was free of that obligation. What would a theologian / librarian / sociologist of religion do if he could do anything? I think I would build a Christian Resource Centre. Say what?! What the heck is that?

Well let's build one together.

I envision it has part of a local church, but open to the wider community: individuals, churches and organizations.

• It will have a library with resources for faith building, and christian living: books and DVDs on topics like ethics, parenting, dealing with divorce and grief; materials for theological and Bible study, for personal growth and for small groups.
  
• It will have a reference desk where visitors can get knowledgeable assistance to find resources to meet their spiritual information needs.
  
• It will have meeting space where workshops and seminars are held. Places for learning and teaching, directed by qualified instructors.
  
• The resource centre will use current technologies to reach out to its clients. People can browse the collection online, access full text christian literature and resources, and engage in online courses.
  
• The resource centre staff will guide you in finding the book, video, website that meets your need. We can even help you order than book online, if you'd like.

Sometimes churches need to do original research. They need to do locate community demographics, design and assess programs, or create and analyze surveys or focus groups. I see a resource centre offering those kinds of information skills.

Also a comfy chair to curl up in, and a rocker for someone else...that sounds familiar! So there is one of my dreams. Until then, time to get back to work.

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Beyond Belief: Prayer as Communication

It is -12 degrees celsius outside, but I'm already planning for the summer. Conference season is coming soon and I have a few choices to make: CSIR conference at Kent State, CAIS at the Learneds in Freddie, or CLA in Halifax. I did send off one conference paper proposal; a paper on prayer as communication in information seeking. Prayer in the Christian tradition (Catholic and Protestant) is personal and relational; God hears our prayers and He responds.

So what does this have to do with information seeking? Canadian sociologist Reg Bibby has proposed that “…many Canadians…in the course of coping with life and death, reach out to a higher power – because it seems like the appropriate thing to do. Prayer seems to be our default mode.” (2002, Restless God, 158) We seek solace, encouragement, forgiveness and answers. So how does an information scientist investigate prayer? He cannot listen it on prayer's answer. She cannot empirically verify divine leading. Yet prayer is real to those praying. As real as reading books. As real as searching the internet. As real as talking to friends. Praying can be information seeking.

How then do we investigate prayer? By taking a sociological viewpoint; listening to our informants, and taking their experiences at face value. It doesn't mean that the researcher has to believe in prayer (I personally do). It means I will respect the beliefs of those who pray, and the answers they receive. Lots and lots of interesting information to consider! In the meantime I did discover the researcher's prayer. ;-)

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This Very Night!

Christmas Concerts...Holiday Events...Seasonal Band Performances. Our gifted children have been busy over the past two weeks, and by extension their parents. For our second event today however we were just spectators for Stoneridge Fellowship Church's annual performance of their Christmas Musical "This Very Night!" As the title suggests, this is the Christmas story from the perspective of Mary and Joseph. The acting and singing was wonderful. My son was particularly impressed with the real farm animals.

Mounting a production like this is no small feat. Six performances. 3000 spectators. 240 cast and performers (many of whom were children. Baby "Jesus", no crying he made!) 7500 hours of practice. Did I mention the sheep and chickens? It was also a highly technical performance, with complex lighting and video production. There were three large screen monitors in the sanctuary, so we wouldn't miss an angle. We are very much a media generation, and people expect that kind of technical wizardry.

What touched me though wasn't the sophisticated performance. It was the timeless story; part of my faith and upbringing. I sang in a few Sunday School Christmas concerts myself; and like thousands of others, I've been the shepherd (and probably even the sheep though I can't remember.) Years ago I spent a Christmas in Kenya. I was visiting a small church near Kisumu on Lake Victoria. I didn't speak Luo, I was hot, and I didn't feel Christmasy. Then the children came in and processed to the front. They wore bathrobes, with towels on their heads. A young lady with a baby doll. A boy watching over her. Shepherds and kings. I didn't understand one word; yet I knew them all: "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus...." This is the power of storytelling at its finest.

I appreciated the polish and professionalism of Stoneridge's "This Very Night." But the power remains in the storytelling: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

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