Things change.  Most anything we can name, these days, has changed a great deal in a short time, including many of the words we use regularly.  One such case is the word “streaming.” 

     There was a time when we would use that word in a sentence to describe something liquid that we can touch.  Like, for instance, “Tears were streaming down his face,” or “After that downpour of rain, water was streaming through the street.”  I recently realized that more recently, when I hear the word “streaming,” water and tears are not what I think of; rather, I think of data.  For instance, “My wife and I like watching movies that are streaming on Paramount Plus.” 

     I looked it up in the dictionary today.  The first definition that came up in my Webster app was this: “the act, the process, or an instance of streaming data.”  No mention of water.  Boy, do things change!

     So now, I told you all that to tell you this.  The theme this year for FCC’s Living Our Faith season is going to be “streaming the holy.”  In other words, we will be thinking of ourselves as instruments, computers, tablets, or fiberoptic cables for streaming the holy into the world. 

     We’ll be considering faith stories and teachings from the Bible, including the account in the third chapter of Exodus, in which God says to Moses, “Come no closer!  Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”  Is it possible our running shoes and Moses’s sandals have something in common?  What does it mean to stand on holy ground?

     In the seventh chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus says, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”  So, those of us who subscribe to Paramount Plus or Netflix or Peacock or Disney are not the first to stream.  Believers have been streaming something Jesus called “living water” for about two millennia. 

     Jesus suggested that we all have the ability to do this, and so, perhaps now is a good time to consider the holy in and around us.  And, if the source of it – the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ – is unlimited, then maybe now is a good time for us to consider how we might increase our bandwidth. 

     I look forward to exploring these mysteries with you during the months of August and September. 

Grace & peace & livestreaming,

Morgan