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Hey folks, I’m on a committee to revamp our church’s web site which also includes how we handle emails across our ministries, resource scheduling, and the like. My role is to identify examples of how these technologies will help the parish, what I’m calling “Use Cases”. So I’d like get your thoughts on what has and has not worked at your church in implementing web-based technologies such web pages, portals, email servers, RSS feeds, blogs, calendars, and the like. How you thought people would use them vs how people did / did not use them. The real value added. The real affect on ministries and the people who run them. The additional staffing needed to keep everything current. Whatever.
I'm also interested in features and layout information that helped to engage people.
I’m not a software guy, IT guy, or software developer. I’m just a guy who wants to improve the flow and coordination of information. Others in the group know the tech stuff. Thanks, Gene
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| Today it hit me. There is a strong implication that the phrase “bible based church” is centered more on studying the bible than on coming to know Christ. Yes, studying the bible is important, but …. John 5: 39You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, 40yet you refuse to come to me to have life. There’s a time to study scripture and get to know Christ that way, and there’s a time to put it away and become aware of the presence of God in us and around us. Does anyone claim to be in a prayer based church? A praise or adoration based church? A sacrament based church? In reality, we should be a Christ based church. Bible study is supportive of that as are prayer, praise, adoration, and the means that Christ institutes to help us experience Him. In the end, it’s not how much scripture we know that really matters. It’s really all about the quality of our relationship with Christ. MT 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23 Then I will tell them plainly, `I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' [NIV] Gene
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The following is from a post I just made in regard to a guy sorting through his beliefs on baptism after a profession of faith vs infant baptism. I thought I'd post it here to share with others.
The original post can be found in 4th part of Barrett's blog http://www.mychurch.org/blog/44105/0728---Questions-on-Infant-Baptism-pt4#comment as he was working through a book defending the infant baptism side. He is apparently getting ready to read some material supporting the other side. Here is my post.
You're doing a great job sorting through all of this. I became Catholic about 9 years ago because of what I experienced through communion. I was terrified of becoming Catholic, but I had experienced Christ in a manner that I had only heard about before, and I was hungry for more. Other things I have come to terms with slowly.
Regarding their teachings on baptism, I couldn't find anything solid in scripture that concretely said that they were wrong, and their position seemed rather reasonable. The part I guess that really grabbed me had to do with the whole subject of grace. We either accept that it is freely given or we don't. Some of the discussions supporting baptism only after a profession of faith (credobaptism?) somehow struck me as implying that we didn't receive grace until we make a profession of faith. Which then begged the question, "What comes first: grace or faith?"
Perhaps clarifying your own answer to that question may help you identify where you really stand on baptism.
Another point to consider. As with communion, baptism is not magic. These physical things, the bread, the cup, the water, in and of themselves have no power. It is only when we recognize Christ himself that these things become effective. Remember, Jesus is God. He humbled himself to take on human form. He humbled himself to wash the feet of the apostles. Think about that. The God of the universe stooped to wash the dirtiest part of the people he called his friends. In the book of Revelation, Christ said to many who cast out demons and prophesied and preached in his name, "I never knew you." It's all about the relationship we have with our Lord Jesus Christ and how we respond to that relationship. Period.
Our Lord humbled himself before his apostles, and I believe that he continues to do the same for each one of us. When we recognize his presence, we see him look straight into our eyes on the way to the cross and we hear him on the cross say about us, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." When we recognize his presence, we experience him through the bread and the cup of communion.
And when we as parents recognize him, I believe that he accepts our infants into his family. And in so doing, something happens to the soul of that child to experience the presence, the love, of Christ himself. At some point along the way, that infant must decide to follow Christ. But until that day comes, I believe that the infant, the parents, and the witnesses experience the presence of Christ in a way that is different from communion, confession, marriage, or any other sacrament - we experience him accepting the weak, the frail, the inocent.
And when we experience him doing accepting people like this, it becomes easier for us to accept and to care for the older ones in the same condition: the poor, the elderly, the sick.
We are all one body in Christ, no matter how old...or how young.
Gene
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Lynne and I went to Bob O'Gorman's visitation Sunday night and funeral mass Monday morning. It was my first Catholic funeral. I left with an incredible understanding of the life that Bob lived, and I was struck the reverence placed upon his body, the vacated temple of the Holy Spirit.
I was pondering all of this when I saw a post a few miinutes ago asking if we still had free will in heaven. The following is a copy of my response.
We are made up of body, soul, and spirit. The body is the biological part of us of that is identical to every other human and it begins to decompose shortly after death. The spirit return to God. The soul is that part of us that is unique. It is different from every other soul that is or will ever be.
I believe that upon death we are fully cleansed of all wounds, all pain, and all fears so that we may experience the fullness of the glory of God. But we are still fully human. We are not like God, nor are we like angels. We will continue to be unique among creation.
We will have already made our choice to follow Christ. And because we will experience a new life that is to us now completely unimaginable, I believe that we will have zero desire or interest, or even the thought of ever turning our backs on God again.
And because of what we will experience, we will pray for those left on earth, that they too may accept the offer of Christ.
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I am reposting a comment I just left in response to a blog titled, "Good Friday was it a sad day or much more?"
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How I feel depends on where I am in my relationship with Christ. I was born and raised Christian, but I was near 30 before I really began to really feel any real connection, any real sense of relationship. I thought off and on, but the feeling part of the relationship began on my late night walks to the dumpster at the end of the apartment complex. I had wanted a stronger relationship, but I didn't know how to get it.
I had only been to 1-2 Good Friday services before in my life, but I attended one when I was around 38 as I was going through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA). In that particular service, I was filled with a tremendous sense of awe for our God. Here was God, willingly humbling Himself before us, taking the punishment that I deserved so that I could be free from guilt, so that I could be free, so that I could approach Him with courage, confidence, and love.
Why did he have to die? Why did it have to be on a cross? What's the point? Aren't those the questions that all christians pose as they mature in their faith?
Yes, He rose from the dead. Yes, He conquered death. Yes, He is Lord of all. Yes, we are forgiven. But it is in seeing His death that we internalize the depths of His love for us. This is one way in which we can relate to the point of Christ's life - to restore our relationship with God.
I "got" communion about two years before that. Before I got it, it was a remembrance akin to, "wow....that was really special. Christ died for me. For he's a jolly good fellow." Intellectually, I could parrot back what I had been taught, but I didn't get it. I'll skip the very long story that leads to this, but I reached a point where I found myself studying scripture for hours on end, praying very hard for long periods of time, pounding my fist on the table at 3:00am and in my hdead screaming out in anger, "God, I believe what you're telling me but I don't get it!"
The next time I received communion, I got it! Worshiping in spirit and in truth. I was there, as I've been many times since. The intense presence and love of Christ were overwhelming. I felt the same thing at my Good Friday experience in RCIA a year or 2 later. Worship in reverence in awe.
I wish I could tell you that every communion and every Good Friday have been the same way, but they haven't. I have shades of those experiences at each event, but it's not the same every time. Those first events can never be experienced in the same way, because for me, that when I fell in Love with Christ. My first communion experience was my first face-to-face encounter with Christ. that's when I met Him for the very first time. I wasn't reading about Him, I wasn't hearing about Him, I wasn't talking to Him....someplace.....out there. There he was, standing, right in front of me, His light and His love all around. He drove his flesh and his blood straight into me. I touched Him, and He totally embraced me.
So as I approached the cross on that Good Friday, I had deep sense of love, honor, and awe, thinking of each sin, seeing him look at me on the way to the cross, seeing each scurge, seeing him nailed, and hearing Him say, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
That Good Friday was like no other. But that was part of a season in my life of faith, a season of falling in love.
A key element in my conversion experience was a willingness to be led, even if it was to a place where I didn't want to go. It was odd to let go of that control, but in doing so He led to be a place where I could actually, physically, experience Him. I have been permanently changed through this. This is what it means to Let Go and Let God. It can be so hard, but it can be so joyous.
I encourage you to take that next step if you haven't already done so, to tell God, with your voice and not just in your head, that you are willing to let Him lead you, even if it is to a place where you do not want to go.
In doing so, you'll no longer ever be concerned about how to feel about Good Friday.
~ Gene
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