Tweeting in Church

A growing number of people (including pastors) have suggested Tweeting reactions during the sermon is a good thing. Some pastors have even encouraged their congregation to interact with the sermon in this way, and will try to respond within the framework of the sermon.

Someone asked me what I thought about that. Here's my answer:

First, while my general reaction is fairly negative, I can't say that nothing good could come from Tweeting during the sermon, but . . .

I think serious and sober consideration should be given to these pitfalls of Tweeting during the sermon:

Being self-centered: Tweeting seems to say, "Here's what I think was cool about the sermon. It's important that my followers know what I think about what was said."

Juvenile behavior: Tweeting during the sermon seems to be little more than impetuous pass-alongs of what hit me just now, with no time to give consideration to the rightness or wrongness of the statement, or the implication of implementing what was just said only 2 seconds ago. Some things deserve more than a few moments of reflection.

Distraction to the Tweeter or others: Admittedly, I'm not capable of texting without lengthy concentration . . . (where's the y?) . . . so it would definitely be distracting to me. "What did he say while I was Tweeting?" What about the constant "chimping" up and down the row and in front of me? Of course, I'm easily distracted by those kinds of things. I assume others are, too.


Temptation to do something else: If I don't value what he's talking about right now, I can just surf the net and find something that is interesting to me. BUT what about what he might say in a minute that will give clear value/meaning to what he just said that I didn't find valuable? Everything can't be said at one time, so why don't I just hold on and hear the whole package? Why is TMZ.com so much more interesting during the sermon?