As most readers will know, Facebook has just announced that it has reached the two billion user mark.\u00a0 One in four people on the planet are now using Facebook at least once every month.\u00a0 Over 800 million people “like” something on Facebook every day.\u00a0 And every day, more than 750 million people \u201cfriend\u201d each other on Facebook. \u00a0To add to the startling numbers, 100 million users are also participating in groups on Facebook — \u201cmeaningful communities,\u201d in the words of Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook.<\/p>\n
In light of these numbers, Zuckerberg might just be forgiven for thinking of Facebook along ecclesial lines. [For those interested in the comparison: the global Catholic population currently stands at 1.285 billion].\u00a0 Zuckerberg, in a celebratory post on the latest milestone of \u201cthe Facebook community,\u201d also announced that he wants to deepen the communal appeal of Facebook, by (among other strategies) supporting \u201cgroup administrators.\u201d\u00a0 Zuckerberg\u2019s reasoning is based on a look at churches: \u00a0\u201cA church doesn’t just come together. \u00a0It has a pastor who cares for the well-being of their congregation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Christian blogosphere is beginning to respond to Zuckerberg\u2019s comparison between \u201cthe Facebook community\u201d and church in various ways, but what really interest me here is this:\u00a0 if Facebook is like a church, what are its liturgies?\u00a0 The answer to that question may actually be a bit uncomfortable. \u00a0The micro-rituals of Facebook intersperse contemporary lives in seamless ways. \u00a0I wonder, for example, how many of us check their Facebook pages first thing in the morning, or last thing at night?\u00a0 Full disclosure: I don\u2019t, but it took a conscious decision on my part to make myself turn to the liturgical calendar instead of my smartphone first thing in the morning, and another conscious decision to end the day with prayer rather than checking on friends on Facebook.<\/p>\n
At the same time, I think that setting up overarching, facile dichotomies \u2013 between my faith and my Facebook page \u2013 are actually not all that helpful.\u00a0 Both are a part of the digital age, after all, through which the church currently journeys on its pilgrimage through time.<\/p>\n
I am interested in the experiences and thoughts about this of the \u201cPrayTell Blog community,\u201d which \u2013 like Facebook \u2013 comes together in cyberspace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As most readers will know, Facebook has just announced that it has reached the two billion user mark.\u00a0 One in four people on the planet are now using Facebook at least once every month.\u00a0 Over 800 million people “like” something on Facebook every day.\u00a0 And every day, more than 750 million people \u201cfriend\u201d each other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[3117,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-scholarship-new-ws","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n