Musings

Cell phones, iPhones, PDAs, Smart phones--any more we are a society that needs to be connected 24/7.  Why do I bring this up?  Yesterday, I was at a funeral trying to show some moral support for dear friends who lost their father.  Before the priest began with a customary prayer, he made sure to remind everyone, "please turn off your cell phones"--- which I'm finding out is now customary in the church as well.

A short time later, a 50 Cent ringtone goes off...."You can find me in the club, bottle full of bub.....No big deal.  Just a brief distraction.  Next, a phone rings with a ring tone that sounds like the ice cream man is rolling down the block.  At first, I glanced over to see where it was coming from.  Surely, the person would turn the ringer off after being slightly embarrassed right?  Wrong!  The woman takes the call and begins to have a conversation right in the middle of Ecclesiastes 15:2 (I'm stretching here, but you get the point)!  A few moments later, another phone starts ringing and the woman scutters out of the chapel to take the call.

Is nothing sacred anymore?  Have we become so obsessed with being connected 24/7 that we can't even respect the sanctity of mass?  What ever happened to "I'll get back to you when I get a chance" or just letting a call go to voicemail?  Don't most phones have a vibrate feature?

You can't even have a decent face to face conversation anymore without the person sitting across from you sending text messages and checking emails.  "How was your.....excuse me....click, click, click......week........tap, tap, click, click.... end?"........ "It was great! The family and I".........."sorry to interrupt, but I really have to take this one."

Finally, the ringing of the phones subsided and I was able to listen to the gospel.....for a moment.  Just when I thought Chad and the fellas at the networks were taking a break, the person next to me starts tapping away at her keyboard.  

I thought to myself:  "Maybe she's channeling the holy spirit?  Maybe, God only responds to cyber prayer these days.  Come on!  Get with it!" Or, maybe we have become so attention deficient that we need constant distractions just to get through the day.  

I wonder if dialing the holy spirit is long distance?  Will it count against my minutes?  If I try to connect with Jesus, is it considered roaming?