One of the gifts of social media is its ability to form powerful bonds between people who’ve never seen each other’s actual faces as we draw together around similar struggles and questions.
The words that come to me across cyberspace are gospel, good news of grace and hope and forgiveness. On Facebook and Twitter, the Holy Spirit creates another part of the mysterious communion of saints, connecting us to other believers in the visible and invisible, the virtual and the tangible. On Instagram and Snapchat, the face of Christ shows through the faces of my neighbors, across the street and across the world. This new facet of God’s beloved community brings new meaning to those old words from Hebrews, “We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.”
This message is adapted from “The virtual communion of saints” by Collette Broady Grund in the January/February 2017 issue of Gather. Today is the Feast of Candlemas or the Presentation of Our Lord. The readings are Malachi 3:1-4; Psalm 84; Psalm 24:7-10 (alternate); Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40. It is also Groundhog Day.
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