Do you have Facebook?
All of my Thai students have Facebook. They add applications nearly every second, and I can't remember who's a pirate and who's a ninja, who's started a cause to provide food for the hungry or to stop global warming. I've poked them, punched them, thrown sheep at them all summer long. By checking a status I can find out if they've passed their finals, or if they like their summer internship. I know who's dating, single, looking for friendship or "whatever they can get." Each night I can check my Facebook wall to find pictures of events that happened only two hours earlier.
Facebook claims to create community in an online environment, and it does. It helps people to know facts - the facts that people want to make known. Throughout my furlough I "stayed in community" with my friends in Thailand, by knowing lots of stuff about them. And when I got back to Bangkok, and school started, I sent them a message through Facebook, inviting them to join in "Living Facebook" at grapevine.
The theme was trendy, for sure, but still valid. In the midst of "poking" each other, and writing notes on "The Wall," we explored why we need community, online or otherwise. We discovered what the Bible has to say about true community, and how we, as a group of friends, want to model that in our lives. We also looked at God's profile, and learned that He longs for more than a casual relationship with us, He wants to love us, and save us, and drive out our fears.
Yes, as cheesy as it sounds, God wants us to click "Add as Friend."
