Hmmmm. WWJT? What would Jesus Text?

The iphone 5 was announced this week, or was it last week, they all merge together. The original iphone was a game changer. Each version since has been an upgrade, but not the REFORMATION of the first generation. The latest version is said to improve in areas of faster connectivity, screen space and a few other tweaks. No, I'm not getting it. I'm good with my version 4s. I'll wait for the chip implant version in 2016. You laugh, but it's not that far off.

How can the community of Jesus respond to the Mobile Generation? One million smart phones are sold everyday. Everyday!

Maybe we need an app for the New England Synod. "What would we do with that? What's the point of that? Are you sure, is it really needed?"

We would only want to do something like that if we wanted to, ah, let's see? Connect people with a gospel centred life.

On October 31, 2017, we'll celebrate the birth of the Reformation. 500 years since Luther slammed a hammer to a church door in Wittenberg, and said, "Here's my app! Here's my reboot of the church operating system. Check it out." Have you been to Wittenberg? I was there in the early nineties, the same year the Soviet Union was undergoing a coupe, and people in Moscow were screaming for a new operating system. I stood infront of the door that lit the fire on the reformation, and it was a stinkin' museum piece. It was all shiny and bronzed and polished. They'd taken the spirit of Luther's fist and turned it into a domestic museum piece.

I'm into Luther, but I prefer the living, breathing passionate mission driven version.

WWLT? What would Luther Tweet?

How will the church connect to the Mobile generation, which is not an age group, but a way of being in the world?

My iphone contains the whole bible, I'm now downloading an audio version of Eugene Peterson's The Message. So that, in addition to U2, Over the Rhine, REM, NPR and the latest audio book, I can HEAR the Word of God - be shaped into the disciple I deep down long to be, but am so frightened of becoming. Yes, I am simultaneously longing to be a saint, and suffering as a selfish sinner. How bout you?

Maybe a New England Synod App could contain audio recordings of Calumet kids singing their hearts out or video clips of a church building a Habitat house or an inspiring word from pastors. It could link Twitter accounts, Facebook updates. Help people find a church nearby. And probably 30 other ideas that you have, and I don't. It could be a tool for helping us be the Lutheran Movement in New England.

The mobile generation is hungry for spiritual connection, meaningful service and vital community. They want to partner with God in the building of the kingdom Jesus preached and embodied. Makes me wonder if now, more than ever, might be the most important time to be the church.

Just a thought.