I am afraid of social media. I have been since I opened my Facebook account in 2008. At first, with great deliberation, I posted a few times, allowing my husband to post for me when my children were born. Since then my account has been reduced to people wishing me happy birthday each year without a response on my part. I have similarly explored other platforms with the same posture.

So, what have I been doing (instead of social media) in the last 17 years? I have been satisfied with face-to-face community and happy to be an outsider of the virtual world—a hidden observer of the community where words, ideas, announcements, and images pour out like an overflowing fountain on our screens. I chuckle at the idea of “fasting” from social media because it has never had a hold on me.

Nowadays, if I do get on social media, I find myself increasingly reading what others are posting and sharing about life, the Church, and current events. But the only reason I’m aware of these posts is because I get email alerts, and I have been too lazy to change my notifications.

As I sign on, I am noticing my desire to engage, only to be met by my resistance towards the impact of posts, likes, best impressions, and uninhibited responses. I am blessed to have community in a number of places, but I notice my inner longing for the idea of the embodied town square, a place for regular and daily face-to-face interactions with my local community. But my reality of living in an American, suburban, car driven, independent oriented culture, as well as my vocation and family relationships lead me to hope expectantly for the fulfillment of this desire in heaven.

For about a year now though, God has been tapping on my shoulder to start engaging with others through this virtual public square. As I reflect on this invitation, social media is a mirror where I am met with my resistance, my fear, and my judgment of the impact of this social space on people’s lives. It is far too easy to be swayed by the temptation of screen courage that leads us to share information that often fills the world with idle words for which Jesus says we will be held accountable. I am also aware of the presence of evil — the breeding ground for defamation, hatred, addiction, abuse, and isolation that has destroyed people’s lives.

I am most deeply aware of the subtle temptations that Singer/Song writer Pat Barret beautifully expresses in his song Happily Hidden. It voices some of the tensions I feel about our technology driven social media world and the resulting longings that come with it.

Happily Hidden by Pat Barret

We beg for attention
Someone to see who we really are
Caught in the system
Using each other to get what we want

 

The lust for approval
Using the spotlight just like a drug
Makes you feel noticed and valued
Forgotten and used

The counterfeit to love

 

Let Him be your hiding place
Let Him be your joy
Let Him be your audience
Let Him be it all
Happily hidden
Oh, happily with Him

The truth is that social media is the modern 24-7 virtual town square, and it is a normal part of our society that is here to stay. It has gained exponential power by it being an extension of our bodies. Our hands and eyes are continually connecting and receiving information on our screens. And everything within me resists this reality because I consider our hands and eyes as sacred. They are parts of our God-given bodies that connect our minds and souls to God. They are also sacred spaces where God dwells.

And so my heart is aware of a prayer within me for the redemption and renewal of this space in our world. I long for a community of people who engage with each other virtually through a deep center rooted in God. Through my longing, Jesus reminds me of His prayer laid out in John 17:15: “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” I desire this for myself and for others who are not of but live in the world that God is redeeming through His people.

My prayer is for the Church to be a vessel of restoration in this space – the modern town square where people come to meet and connect at all times – that it be protected from evil and instead give space for relational connections full of God’s Kingdom light that shines through the chaotic blue light filled world .

I have been encouraged by several to have a liturgy of prayer every time I share. I wrote the one below and prayed it before posting this. I hope it blesses and leads you to pray before you engage not just in social media, but any place where words are made public and meant to be heard and received by others. May my prayer join the prayers of the saints present before the throne of God (Revelation 5:8). Inspired by Douglas Kaine McKelvy’s “Liturgy before Taking the Stage” in his book Every Moment Holy, I share and post these words and prayers for myself and others:

Prayer for the Redemption of Offering Words in the Digital World

O God, Word of Life, who from the beginning breathed and spoke living words that had the power to create the vast and ever expanding beauty of creation. I offer you my mouth and my hands that are made in your image and express my thoughts and meditations of my heart.

May my every word offered publicly be an offering to you — an act of worship that pleases you. May I be slow to speak and first check my motivations, insecurities, fears, and judgments before I share on social media, and may my offering be one of honor and grace to all people.

May my words never be disembodied from who I am in you. May I be a vessel of your light that shines through the blue, and may my every breath and word, spoken and written, echo yours and tell Your story.

May you bring redemption to this virtual space, where words are not rooted in screen courage but in the desire to connect and care for others through justice, mercy, humility, and unity.

May this public well be a place where words, images, and ideas point to the true and living waters. And may your Church remember that the number of times we check our screens reflects the degree to which our souls desire connection with you.  

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.