Notes from Day Seven: Finding God in the Facebook labyrinth

Any number of sources will tell you about the uses of Facebook. The social media phenomenon not only helps people develop amazing friendship networks, it is now a tool for marketing, job hunting, background checks on prospective employees, more marketing, background checks on prospective bosses, getting the message out about anything you have ever imagined, and even more marketing.

I think the most impressive use of Facebook, though, is a little different. People use it to express care, even love. Consider with me three things. First, "Like"ing. It's very easy to Like someone or whatever it is they're posting. If, as the saying goes, "Words are cheap," then Likes are in the discount bin of the linguistic dollar store. It is absolutely no cost to the Liker to click the Like box dozens or hundreds of times.

Or... well, is that really true? I don't know about you, but when I Like something I do give it some thought, even if it's only half of a half a moment's thought. Math aficionados will tell you that's a quarter. And a quarter of a moment is more than nothing. Those aficionados will also tell you that four of them add up to a whole moment. Liking is a way — even if a small way, even if just a tiny way — a way of appreciating something that's important to somebody.

We have a mini moral discussion in our minds when deciding to Like something or not. That's because we don't want our communications, even our Facebook communications, to be without meaning. We mean it when we click Like. Liking is a small, but not therefore empty, way of showing care.

Second, caring through Facebook can go further. Recently a student from my neighbourhood was found lying unconscious on the floor at a party in Vancouver. The reason for his passing out may seem obvious, and we may be right. I don't know. He's been vaguely conscious only a few times since that tragic evening, so he hasn't been able to tell anyone yet what happened.

But here's the thing. His family used Facebook to organize a public outdoor rally complete with prayers, songs to God and stories of the student. (The rally was held on a sunny day atop a look-off that gave everyone a spectacular view of thousands of hectares of land and water below.) A Facebook page has been created and it is the hub of a daily stream of love: comments about the student; about the progress he's making; about the prayers people are saying for him across the country. His mother regularly posts her thanks and requests for people to keep praying for her son.

Third, consider the Facebook-enabled response to the news about my dad. He had not been doing well and some days ago he passed away. I let my Facebook friends know by means of a status update. Now, my list of friends may or may not be modest in comparison to yours, dear and valued reader. However, I was very moved to receive 60 comments about the news of my father's passing.

Maybe it has happened to you that you have received dozens and dozens of comments such as "praying for you and your family," and "may God's grace and care surround you." Or how about this, just in this second: "So sorry for your loss Mike. May God's presence give you comfort and peace." It makes you feel that people really do care, and that God cares.

In this case, the comments are coming from all over Ontario (where I have lived many years) and Nova Scotia (where I currently live), and from colleagues at Fanshawe, family in Europe and friends from Australia to parts of the United States.

It says somewhere in the poems of the Bible that God uses winds, clouds, and fire as his messengers. It seems he is also using Facebook. He uses it to spread care, prayers, and his presence in our world. Who would have thought that Mark Elliot Zuckerberg's invention would rise to so noble a calling?

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