Of Facebook and Faith

Do you remember when Facebook was great? Ten years or so ago, I signed up for a Facebook account, and I immediately thought it was the best thing ever. I found old friends. I was able to reconnect with my classmates from Baylor. I was able to find friends from high school. Every day when I got home from work, I would look forward to getting online and seeing what everyone was doing. My friends would share pictures of children and vacations. They would share funny memes and funny events from their day. It was, well, fun.

Then things started to change. Creepy people got involved and started to hack accounts. Some would just post embarrassing things in your name. Others would steal. Others would try to lure the most innocent away to do them harm.

Then came the politics. It was like every day there was a new political rant by someone followed by a huge argument. Some people would just stop going on Facebook during the political season. As for me, I posted a warning to people. If they were going to post about politics I would unfollow them. I finally unfollowed and unfriended enough people that there is limited politics on my newsfeed.

Charlatans and hucksters arose. They came out of the woodwork promising things like if you put onions on your feet at night you would be cured of all your maladies. Some promised things like if you would just give them your information they would show you how to pay off your mortgage in 12 months without paying any additional money. Then came the essential oil craze. Did you know that there is literally nothing that essential oils cannot cure? I didn’t either.

Recently, News broke about Facebook’s lack of respect for our privacy. I mean we should have known. Somehow if I looked up a present for my wife, an advertisement for that same product appeared on my news feed. It should have been obvious that they were tracking our internet searches all along. Then we discovered that our messages on Facebook were never really that private. Worse, when we download Facebook Messenger to our phone Messenger would track us.

Now instead of great, Facebook is a bit of chore. In fact, Facebook has a problem with kids. Young people are ignoring the platform in favor of Instagram, Snapchat, and others. Some people have dropped out altogether. It is not that they do not like what Facebook claims to offer. It is that they think Facebook failed them. It is like Facebook violate the terms of agreement. No, not the terms of agreement they have in their published agreements, Facebook violated the terms of agreement the customer has for them. Think of it this way, when you sign up for Facebook you are saying that you will provide your name, information, and pictures to Facebook. Facebook, in turn, will provide an experience connecting you to the people and things you love. Facebook’s errors make people think that the experience is not worth giving Facebook anything.

Looking at Facebook’s problems, I cannot help but think of the Church. I remember when church was great. I remember when pastors were heroes. I remember when my youth minister stood between an armed man and the door to the room where his ex-wife and children were hiding. I remember when no one ever even considered the possibility that clergy could be predators. I was naïve.

I remember when people prayed for each other instead of talked about each other. I remember when gossip was something relegated to busybodies that no one granted any credibility. Maybe I was just not observant enough.

I remember when politics and the church did not mix. Now, everything is political. Even not talking about politics is construed as being political. Is it too much to ask that when we come together we just talk about Jesus?

I remember coming together to worship being joyful. I remember running to be first in line to the homecoming buffet. I remember pig pickin’s in the early fall. I remember children’s programs at Christmas. I remember people thinking that Church was great. I remember people determined to make the experience of Church great for themselves and their children.

Maybe my memories of the greatness of Church are born of the innocence of my youth, the naïveté born of a failure to observe, or the idealization of a past that never really existed. Whatever the case, it seems that Church is becoming a chore to so many, and I think I know why.

We have violated the user agreement. We promise people that Church will be a community of people striving to follow Jesus. We promise to be a community of worship. We promise to be with them when they are sorrowful and to celebrate when they succeed. What we provide is, too often, less than that.
We read a great deal about people leaving the faith, however, 80% of people in the United States believe in God according to a recent poll. People have not stopped believing in God so much as they have stopped believing in us. When many people leave the Church, they are deciding that the good we promise is not worth the hassle we provide.

It does not have to be this way. We can make our church life a great experience for ourselves, our children, and our community. The time to start, though, is now.