Technical Support

I have just spent about 45 minutes with a 'Technical Support Person' working out some kinks in one of the many programs our technology ministry utilizes in bringing the worship and ministries of our congregation into the 21st Century. Every time I am placed in a position to speak with one of these 'Tech Support' types, I have to preface my questions and comments with the words, "I know enough about computers to be dangerous, but not enough about them to be knowledgeable. So, take your time and walk me through every step that I need to take, that the two of us don't have to do this process all over again." It is soooooooooo frustrating. I will say in defense of nearly all of the "Tech Support' folks with which I have spoken, they have been incredibly patient with me, putting into common English the tech phrases they are accustomed to throwing around with other techies. For that I am grateful but, still, it is sooooooo frustrating: To be in the position of needing the technology I am using, but not having all the training I need so as to be conversant in the ways the technology works . . . and sometimes it just fries me, having to be so dependent on the kindness of strangers to help me work my way through the problems of the day.

But, isn't that, in fact, the way God intended it from the very beginning? No one of us has all of the knowledge, all of the understanding, all of the training, all of the insider-phrases, all of the skills, or all of the desire to know all of the knowledge, which will get us through the day. No one. Only God. For those of us who are created in the image of God, it is incumbent upon us to work together for the good of the whole, that the whole might, in some small manner, reflect the fullness of the One in whose Image we are created. Frustrating as it might sometimes be, we need each other. Even with all of the training and education one person might conceivably be able to attain in a lifetime, the human race needs each other. Remarkably, each person has the capacity and understanding of the world where they are to be a 'Tech Support Person' to someone else. And, conversely, each person has the need and lack of knowledge of the world where they are to need the tech support someone else has to offer . . . frustrating as that idea might be.

I think the very nature of of such interdependence daily reminds us we are not God. We are of God's creation and each bit of creation, each visage of this universe (and all the universe's beyond us), has the capacity to point towards the One who is the fullness of all there is. We have the capacity. Whether or not we choose to have the moral fortitude and do that, in sharing life's journey with others, or allow ourselves to get caught up in the frustration of not being the end all and be all of all creation, well, that is quite another question.

Today, I am thanking God for the Tech Support Persons who remind us of the depth of God's love for all of creation as they share of themselves for the good of the world. I pray, in some small humble way, I might do the same with my life - for the sake of others, that the world, too, would see God through me.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Don