transitory

It's been almost a month since I last posted. I apologize. My past weeks have been a strange combination of busy, exciting and depressing. In all things, I'm learning more and more to cling to the freedom of Christ.

I used to wonder so much about that phrase: the freedom in Christ. Like most people, I balked at the notion that under the guidance and Lordship of Jesus, we could experience freedom. "There's so much that I CAN'T do as a Christian," I would complain.

But what I've come to realize, over this ordeal with my dad's cancer and plenty of other smaller issues, is that Christian freedom isn't about emancipation from order or discipline, but rather freedom from fear. The world is held often in such fear: fear of the future, fear of the unknown, fear of what might be. But there is such freedom in Christ - in the trust of the all-powerful, all-knowing and all-good God. There is such joy in the freedom. And it's a freedom I wouldn't trade for anything in the world.

That's really not what this post is about though.

Facebook just recently changed their layout. I've been on Facebook for the better part of four years now; I've been with it pretty much since the beginning. It's gone through many stylistic changes, additions and formatting updates. The most recent change, from what's commonly referred to as, "Old Facebook" to "New Facebook," is probably the most expansive.

Many people might get lost in the subtle changes, but I think the largest and most pivotal change in the Facebook layout is the reduction of an individuals primary page to transitory information: ie, wall posts and recent activity. What used to be featured on a Facebook profile (likes and dislikes, preferences, personal information... static information) is now relegated to a secondary page. When I am browsing through my friends, I am brought directly to, and spend most of my time on, the page which contains their current activities and statuses and wall posts.

Facebook is marketed as a social-networking website. People ideally use Facebook to build relationships and networks of individuals. Facebook profiles should be used to identify and introduce the individual.

That said, it seems that this transition in Facebook is reflective of a general trend in society to view a person's identity based on transitory information and present action rather than static profile. Who a person is is no longer an is, but rather what doing.

As a pastor, of course, I'm worried by this trend. Who am I? I feel that's such an essential question for each person to struggle through. The question of identity is so powerful among teenagers that moral values and familial relations will be jettisoned very quickly if they impede identity.

And as Christians, the answer to that question is not transitory - it's very very static. We, under the grace of the Father, the propitiation of Christ and the sanctification of the Spirit, are sons and daughters of God. That's how it is. Isn't going to change: a very static identity. And we need to cling to that static identity, because if we allow ourselves to be characterized by circumstances - which often reflect our fallen nature more than we'd like - we will never see growth.

And so this subtle but important shift on Facebook worries me a little. I like the new layouts for the sake of simplicity, but I worry about the possible psychological changes.

Yup.