There is a clever little commercial airing on TV these days. It plays with ideas that are specific to current technologies and connects them to very low-tech realities from every day life. For instance…

…a couple in love, exchanging an affectionate kiss, is called an "instant message"

At the end of the commercial are the words, "Make face time."

There are so many technologies to keep up with these days. The kids in the congregation have invited me to become a member of "Facebook." For them it is a world of connections. For me, it is a maze of confusion. At last count I had two e-mail addresses (home and work), three voicemail boxes (home, work, cell phone), the church’s emergency voicemail system, and now there is one more thing I need to check to be sure I am well-connected: Facebook! Whoever thought technology would simplify our lives clearly wasn’t paying attention.

It is easier and easier to avoid connecting with each other directly these days. E-mail is the preferred communication for many in our world and I confess that I have come to rely upon it more than I ever expected. But there is no substitute for "face time" – that good-old-fashioned looking-each-other-in-the-eye-and-talking thing that is so important and so easy to avoid in a digital age. Some of the smartest people I know avoid e-mail altogether for what they "lose in the translation." Face time, it seems, is back in fashion.

The church is a great place to practice face time. In fact, that is one of our greatest gifts and our greatest challenges because our life together in Christian community is what I would call, "high impact." To be a part of the Body of Christ means that there really is no faithful way to keep people at arm’s length.

Worship is the first and most important place where we practice "face time." We come together, greet one another in the name of our Risen Savior, and practice the high-impact life of "rejoicing with those who rejoice, and weeping with those who weep" (Romans 12:15). It really is important that we gather face-to-face on a regular basis.

The Season of Lent is almost upon us and with it the opportunity to join one another for some holy face time. My good friend and colleague, the Rev. Daniel Moser, will be our Theologian in Residence this year. He will join us for six Wednesdays in Lent and the subject of his teaching for the season will be "Ministry in the Margins: Finding Space in our Lives for the Things that Matter." Please make a point of joining your fellow members in Christ for the face-to-face conversation that is so important to the life and health of the Body of Christ.