Ministry When Everyone is “Forever Elsewhere”

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.

A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

(Luke 19:1-10)

 

Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT, Sherry Turkle has been studying and writing about the ways that humans and computers interact since the early 1980s. In her article recently published on Jonathan Haidt’s blog, she writes about what it would take to be the community that is “Reclaiming the Conversation in the Age of AI.” Dr. Turkle goes on to describe how the evolution of “digital companions” has shaped the world we live in. And now, more than ever, she claims, these digital tools that were designed to keep us connected to one another have moved us to a state of being “forever elsewhere.”

AI is appealing because it’s easily accessible and comfortable, Dr. Turkle explains. If you immerse yourself in or with a companion that gives you what you want to hear all the time, or tells you only the positive responses you want, then it gets easier and easier to isolate yourself in the “safe zone” of life.

Wrapped up in this bubbled “elsewhere,” we lose the ability to empathize with our neighbors, engage with the complexity of their challenges, and work to find worthy solutions for our lives and the lives of others. We become accustomed to the frictionless convenience of sticking with the people and machines that are just like us and reinforce our narratives and modes of operation.

This is not the way of Jesus, who dove into human complexity when he entered the homes of tax collectors, responded to desperate Roman centurions, took the hands of the lepers that no one else would touch, and showed sympathy for the young man who had everything. Jesus rubbed shoulders with the clean and the unclean, Jesus walked straight towards the people whom everyone else labeled and avoided. Jesus leaned in. Jesus put his metaphorical “phone” down and was fully present. Focused, attentive, listening, holding, touching, healing.

“Artificial Intelligence” and being “forever elsewhere” is changing the way we see one another and the world. It’s not hyperbole to suggest that we may gradually forget how to interact with the person sitting across the table without a tablet/phone/or computer. And in this way the church will miss those we are called to notice and engage. God created us to be in relationship with God and with each other. We need face-to-face time, beyond the screens and outside of our comfort zones, lest we lose a vital, fundamental element of our shared humanity.  And of what it means to be the church.

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QUESTIONS TO PONDER:

What conversation does your congregation need to have about people’s use of technology and how it impacts faith, relationships, and walking with Jesus? In what ways is it a distraction, a tool for ministry, or something else?

When has your church taken time to notice those like Zacchaeus in your neighborhoods lately?

To what degree or in what ways, have you or your church leaders have become “forever elsewhere,” because of the technology that keeps you from being truly present?