May/June 2008

FAITH THROUGH THE INTERNET

Dear Friends,

Over the years, I have acquired a growing list of parishioners and former parishioners (and sometimes simply friends from the past) who request copies of the sermons and homilies that I deliver in the Cathedral. Dutifully on Monday or Tuesday morning, I send the previous Sunday’s offering as an email attachment to them as well as to our website for posting under “Recent Sermons”. Occasionally, I learn that these writings are forwarded elsewhere several times over. And, once in a great while, something I wrote years ago – and have long forgotten – surfaces from cyberspace.

Some of my clergy colleagues have commented that they would never put their materials on the Internet because of the potential risks involved. And I will admit that once in a while I get a bit nervous wondering if I have given proper credit to a source I’ve quoted or if I managed to drop a footnote or a reference when typing the manuscript. Plagiarism and copyright laws are more strictly enforced these days. Alas, my legendary typing skills and editing ability sometimes leave a lot to be desired.

Despite these legitimate concerns, I am fully convinced that the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages involved, even at the considerable risk of boring the innocent and the faithful on occasion. Nothing gives greater pleasure than opening an email with a word of thanks for what a sermon or a few statements in a sermon meant to another person. It doesn’t happen every week, but it does happen enough to assure me that God works through the often mundane business of writing sermons. While most churches are far from packed with avid listeners these days, the potential for spreading the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ grows with modern technology.

Now I really don’t understand much about how computers or the Internet function. These are mysteries which I leave to Canon Pae and to Mr. Nelson, whose technological expertise far surpass my own. At present, we are upgrading the Cathedral’s website, adding more features, and trying to provide better information about the considerable resources available at the Cathedral for people who might just need us and who are searching for a place of worship.

Thankfully, I don’t have to understand how it works! But I do need the courage to trust that it does – and will – work when needed. And perhaps more to the point, I need to have the courage to move forward in confidence with the things God calls me to do, even if I’m not certain of the outcome. Moving forward with faith is a part of the Christian Life.

Faithfully in Christ

The Venerable Theodore W. Bean, Jr.