The Lost Art of Gathering

January 19, 2010

Dear St. Paul’s Family,

It has long been my goal to attend a live broadcast of Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion. For years I have enjoyed the homespun tales of Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, and the adventures of Guy Noir, private eye. Saturday evenings at 5pm have become “appointment radio” for the deVega household.

That’s why I was particularly interested in an interview with Keillor in a recent issue of Time magazine. A reader asked Keillor how the radio industry has changed in the 35 years since he started his show. Here was his response:

Back in the day, you had to sit in front of a large wooden radio with columns like the Acropolis. You sat in the presence of radio, and you listened to it. Now you can pick it up and carry it. You can listen to anything you want, and the Internet brings radio anywhere around the world. [1]

Like many of you, I can remember our family’s large stereo that played records and broadcast radio programs. In the evenings we would gather in the living room around our one and only television to watch the news, and the next morning we would share the newspaper around the breakfast table. Gathering to experience the significant stories of the day was an important family ritual.

But times have changed, and so has our culture’s tendency to gather together. Large set-top radios have been replaced by iPods, car satellite radios, and live-stream internet sites that enable people to master their own private media experiences. Televisions adorn nearly every room in the house, complete with DVR’s, allowing family members to scatter into their own personal viewing preferences. And why bother sitting in a crowded theater when you can watch a movie on-demand, in your own isolated solitude?

The sum effect is that we no longer gather to hear important stories. We have become an increasingly privatized, narcissistic population. We can choose to listen to any song, watch any show, or access any bit of information whenever we want to, with any number of portable devices at our disposal.

My friend Christine Rosen, a researcher and fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., has coined the term egocasting to describe the belief that our personal activities are more important than the people around us. We immerse ourselves only in those experiences consistent with our own preferences, from our taste in music to our ideological perspectives. Anything outside those preferences is disregarded, even at the cost of interacting with other people. Rosen first proposed the term in an article in The New Atlantis:

With the advent of TiVo and iPod, however, we have moved beyond narrowcasting into “egocasting”—a world where we exercise an unparalleled degree of control over what we watch and what we hear. We can consciously avoid ideas, sounds, and images that we don’t agree with or don’t enjoy. As sociologists Walker and Bellamy have noted, “media audiences are seen as frequently selecting material that confirms their beliefs, values, and attitudes, while rejecting media content that conflicts with these cognitions.” [2]

Now, if Keillor and Rosen are right, then there is both a serious challenge and a great opportunity for the church. Corporate worship, after all, is essentially a gathering of people to hear the stories of the faith. In this day and age, it is radically counter-cultural, and therefore largely avoided. Forget about Sunday morning golf, or trips to the lake, or afternoon football: the greatest barrier to worship attendance today is egocasting. It is the growing tendency for people to live self-absorbed, egocentric lives.

But consider the incredible opportunity this affords the church. As people come to realize the inadequacy of highly privatized living in offering real connections to genuine community, the church is squarely in place to offer them just that. People can readily discover that Sunday worship just might be the only true break they have from a week full of megabits, decibels, and pixels. In an increasingly “plugged in” world, worship calls us to unplug, connect with others, and return to how we were originally created, tribal and relational.

Yes, someday, I’d like to hear Garrison Keillor live; that will happen soon enough. In the meantime, I have something better. A chance to gather with others in the presence of the Great Storyteller, and live into the stories that can transform the world.

Let’s hear them together.

Grace and Peace,

Magrey

The Rev. Magrey R. deVega
St. Paul's United Methodist Church
531 W. Main St.
Cherokee, IA 51012
Ph: 712-225-3955
http://www.cherokeespumc.org


[1] http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1946961-1,00.html#ixzz0cvSO8CSJ <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1946961-1,00.html#ixzz0cvSO8CSJ>
[2] http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-age-of-egocasting




WORSHIP THIS SUNDAY
Join us as we continue our sermon series on the unbelievable stories of Jesus. This Sunday, we’ll look at his amazing inaugural sermon in the synagogue, and the rejection he faced as a result. It’s titled, “You Won’t Believe What He Said!” and is based on Luke 4:14-21.

YOUTH MOVIE NIGHT
Attention youth, grades 7-12! Join us this Sunday at the church to watch the terrific, inspirational movie “Radio” starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. Please note that we are rescheduling the start time for the movie for 2pm, and we should be finished by 4pm. Movie snacks will be provided, followed by a group discussion. And as always, bring a friend!

THE PANCAKE RACE IS COMING!
Attention, women of Cherokee! Dust off that apron and practice your pancake flipping! The wildly successful Great Cherokee Pancake Day Race returns this Shrove Tuesday, February 16, and it promises to be even bigger and better than last year! It is time to start assembling your teams and preparing your costumes, and we are ready to receive your registrations. To download a registration form, and for more information about the race, visit our new website at www.pancakerace.com.

SPECIAL OFFERING FOR HAITI
We continue to receive your contributions to the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), which is actively working to provide comfort and support to the people of Haiti. Please make your checks payable to St. Paul’s and designate them for “Haiti Relief.” Given the numerous reports in the media warning people to be careful of “scam” relief agencies, you may want to check out the American Institute of Philanthropy, a charitable agency watchdog, and its stellar evaluation of UMCOR. http://www.charitywatch.org/hottopics/Haiti.html.

In addition, please keep the people of UMCOR in your prayers. Two of their top leaders, Executive Director Rev. Sam Dixon and Head of Mission Volunteers Rev. Clint Rabb, perished in the earthquake.