Change is hard
Well, here goes facebook again. This week they changed everything around and I can’t find what I’m looking for.
Actually I am pretty new to facebook and didn’t have to go through the pain of living through the last change, not that long ago. What was interesting about this change was a conversation that I had with a young person of college age that was frustrated about this change. I guess what caught me off guard was that we usually think of old people (relative term depending on how old one is that is saying old people), any way we usually think of old people as the ones who are resistant to change. After all it is the young who always seem to be asking for things to change. So to see this young person frustrated by the change in their beloved facebook interface was a bit of a surprise.
It was a learning experience for both me and for them. Especially when I suggested that this might be the same way that older people (again subjective term) feel when worship style in the church is changed. I guess it shows that we are all resistant when the things we care about are changed, but we need to remember that change is a part of life, and look at what the changes we encounter are really about. Has the change just been about the interface, or has it changed the substance? Is the introduction of new music in worship changing what we believe about Jesus? Is the introduction of video into worship changing what we believe about Jesus? Is the introduction of a new interface for facebook changing the substance of what we use it for, to connect with our friends? Whether the music is traditional or contemporary, or even emergent, we can still connect with God who hasn’t changed. No matter whether we use visuals on screens or in stained glass, the story remains the same that God sent His Son Jesus to show us His love and forgive us from our sin. Nothing we use to present that story has the power to change the truth about God.
In a couple of weeks the fuss over facebook will die down and people will be used to the new format. We will once again be able to find our stuff and make it give us the information we crave. And maybe, just maybe, we will be able to take these life events into context and examine where we are in the midst of them and discover something about ourselves. Yes sometimes life is frustrating and we find comfort in the stability, but it is also in the stability that we can so easily find stagnation and complacency.
Anyway, just some random thoughts on living this Christian life.
