Yes, I really am using Twitter for Lent

by Guest blogger

I don’t understand why this is so hard for people to believe. Learning something new is supposed to be good for you, right? Even if I never use this tool for ministry, learning new things is good for a preacher’s brain, isn’t it?

If you happened to be wondering, my method is to attempt to tweet at least once or twice a day and occasionally I challenge myself to follow a certain number of new people or favorite a certain number of other people’s posts. Hey, I’m an introvert. Being social takes practice for me. (Current status: Changed user name. Tweets: 90. Following: 35. Followers: 23. Some of that was from before, though.)

Anyway, this is what I have learned so far.

Ten things I have learned while attempting to use Twitter for Lent

1. Twitter names, unlike every other user name I have ever had, should be as short as possible.
2. Just exactly like every other user name I have ever had, #1 is impossible because all the good names were registered five years ago.
3. Although we all agree that the proper title is “the Reverend”, and we also agree that this is mostly for formal writing only, it is perfectly okay to go by just “rev” on Twitter because of #2.
4. People think that it’s weird to add Twitter for Lent. This is probably a sign that it is actually a really good Lenten discipline.
5. Sometimes, if you are using a hash tag that other people are using, complete strangers will follow you. This is normal and is not considered creepy. (Unless they do it in real life. Following random strangers in real life is still creepy.)
6. My one friend really likes the show Revenge.
7. You can’t go back and edit in the hash tags when you forgot to put #Lent. You have to either delete it and start over, or just skip it. This is probably what that guy in Ecclesiastes was talking about.
8. When people post Instagram photos to Twitter, you can’t see the photo without clicking on the link. I have no idea why so many people do this.
9. I have no idea what I’m doing, and that’s okay.
10. Communicating on Twitter, like all forms of communication, is actually real communication. It is not fake communication, imaginary communication, or virtual communication.
11. Counting is really not my thing.

P.S. Find me on Twitter @RevSarahTaylor, because apparently, you are now supposed to use your real name on the Internet. (It is probably just as well this was not the case when I was a teenager.)

Sarah Taylor is an ELCA pastor serving Lake Hanska Lutheran Church in Hanska, Minn. She regularly blogs at Cardamom Coffee where this post was first published.

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Photo by Shawn Campbell. Used with permission.