Insufficiency

I'm often reminded of the insufficiency of words to categorize God and our relationship with him ... her .. it ... God.

I once heard a preacherman ask a room full of texting, ipod weilding teenagers to "friend" Jesus. As in the facebookable verb; to add someone to a friend list. Once every few months I try to trim back the ever-expanding shrubbery of friend lists. I'm terribly afraid of hitting the 1,000 friend mark. I think the crushing reality of 1,000 friends and nothing to do on a Friday night would be too much for my fragile soul to handle.

So, have you "friended" Jesus? Like Hindu-Indians adding Jesus as another god to put on their mantle, have you included Jesus in your ever-expanding circle of influence? Have you allowed the Lord of Lords and King of Kings full access to view your pictures, wall, status updates, and favorite interests?

I'm not just picking on a pastor for creating (or, more likely, recycling) a terrible metaphore. I'm interested in how the me-generation views the very act of personal salvation in a world of social-networking. Our definitions have changed.

When my grandmother was young if she sat and wrote out her friends, there would probably be a dozen names on the list. These names probably included her family, neighbors, and relatives. And people at church. Probably her widest pool of friends was the social networking she experienced at church. Instead of being connected to a household, street, or playground she was connected to a hundred or more people. For a few hours once a week her social circle became too large to comfortably manage.

This morning I have connected with people on 3 continents (some in person, some on-line). I congratulated a dear friend in Russia on her wedding by posting on her wall, spoke on the telephone with a missionary in Mongolia, video-called my mother, watched a Ukrainian nationalist parade in L'viv, talked in person with a few students and sent out a half-dozen e-mails to people in Ukraine and America. I don't need Sunday morning worship to expand my social network - if anything I crave the comfort and safety of fewer, deeper authentic relationships when I worship. It has been over a year since I have worshipped with anyone sharing more than a few months history.

I don't want to "friend" Jesus - I want Jesus to save me from Facebook. More than another casual aquantaince I need an authentic savior. One who will lead me into true and lasting relationships to help me grow into the disciple I need to become.

Our words are insufficient, but increasingly our social constructs are also becoming insufficient. We don't have kings, lords, or fathers in our lives. Most people have never met a shepherd and fishermen are a distant concept or weekend hobbyists. Without a means of comparison, how will we know how to interact with Jesus?

Our words, and the structures they represent are wholly inadequate to help us comprehend Jesus.