Good Monday Morning to you all!

Well it has been a very rough last few days here in the Tidewater area of Virginia. The remnants of Hurricane Ida turned into a “nor-easter” event that hit us with several days of high winds and heavy rains. Although the sun is shining brightly today, and things are getting back to normal, as a community we continue to pray for those who suffered property damage and for those who worked diligently to restore power and communications, may God’s grace and mercy surround them all.

Several folks have raised to me the issue of our “presence” on the internet. Not that this is a new thought for me, it certainly isn’t, but it does raise my current level of awareness; this time with a slightly different perspective. One recent observation was that we abandoned our “presence” in the yellow pages for a promise – or at least a hope – that our money would be better spent on our internet presence. In my heart I still believe that this is the way we should be moving. There are, however, some interesting differences.

A yellow page ad, regardless of it’s size was static and unchangeable between publications. What you paid for is what you got. By the same token, no one who was using the yellow pages thought anything of that static nature either. Not so with “advertising” on the internet via an organizational website. To produce a site, and then allow it to become almost as “static” as the yellow pages print ad, is probably more damaging than not having a website at all. Today’s looker/seeker/consumer that is “shopping”/looking for a church on the internet “expects” to see a site that is current/updated often and tells the story of who we are.

What I am realizing, and this is not heavy theology, is: one, the website takes a lot more time and effort than the once-a-year decision to run the yellow pages ad again, and two, that since our internet presence through our website IS an important ministry function, I need to treat it that way. This means elevating its care and maintenance to a higher level on the priority list and probably developing an interested ministry team to share in the responsibility.

I’m glad that we are so near the beginning of a new liturgical year that we can look forward starting something new right away; rather than waiting until January 1! As always, I really DO welcome your comments and feed back. As I have said many times before “we” are in ministry together here at St. Timothy.

Blessings to you all, and if I don’t write to you before, I hope to see you at worship on Sunday and back here next week for “Good Monday Morning.”