Would God use email?

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Published on Wednesday, February 10, 2016

By Rev. Glenna Beauchamp

Rivers and Oak River United Churches

It takes seven to 10 days for my letter to reach my favourite uncle in southern Ontario; an email would take seconds. But he doesn’t do email. Bill has never owned or used a computer.

Do I wish I could communicate with him through email? Sometimes, but not always. There is something very personal about holding his hand-written letter in my hands as I read it, and more thought goes into my letters to him.

The other thing is, when I send an email, I never know for sure if it got whether I think I sent it, because if I get even one letter wrong, or accidentally type a comma instead of a period, it doesn’t work. But I once received a letter that had my name misspelled and the wrong postal code; the local post office managed to still get it to me.

I think God is more like the post office. The psalmist says, “He knows our frame. He remembers we are but dust.” God knows we are human. God knows making mistakes is part of being human. Unlike my computer, God does not demand perfection or else He’ll ignore us; God keeps reaching out to us with grace and convenant love.