Introducing Twiturgy

As part of the Common Text initiative, we are trying a new experiment with Scripture and social networking. Are you familiar with Twitter yet? Twitter is a quite simple social networking tool whereby friends follow one another's lives throughout the day. For some Twitter seems a complete waste of time and yet for others it becomes a profound practice of being mindful of one another and staying connected in the ordinary stuff of life.

The Hebrew vision, which is to say the biblical vision, is that of a Word-Shaped World. Down through the ages, the people of God have been pretty creative with how that actually happens. From writing it on hands, binding it to foreheads, posting it on gates and doorposts and so on, the quest is to create a way of life steeped in the living remembrance of our God. As the psalmist says, "and on his law he meditates day and night."

Christians early on picked up the Hebrew pattern of praying seven times a day. Somewhere along the way these hours of remembrance and prayer took on simple names. Lauds (dawn), Terce (3rd hour, 9am), Sext (sixth hour, noon), None (9th hour, 3pm), Vespers (dusk, evening), Compline (dark, retiring), Vigils (middle of the night).

Enter Twitter. We're calling this particular Common Text Experiment, "Twiturgy." At each of the seven "hours" everyone who participates in the experiment will receive a "twitter" from "Twiturgy" containing a short phrase of Scripture from the day's reading. It will be delivered via the internet to your computer account, your cell phone (smart-phones) or through an ordinary text message per your election.

Here's how to get involved. Go to Twitter.com. Sign up for a free account (takes 1 minute). Type in "twiturgy" in the search box at the top middle section of the screen. When twiturgy comes up click on follow. It's that simple. Beyond this you can use twiturgy as extensively or as little as you like. If you would like twitter to text your phone with the updates, click on settings and then devices and follow the instructions. (hint: the us international prefix is 1).

Give it a try. Cultivating mindfulness of God's Word. What could be a better use of our time or our text! We will check in later to learn about the impact. It's another way the Common Text Project seeks to bring together ancient practices and post-modern means to cultivate a sustainable life of grace.

Comments

[Una Malachica]

I am very interested in your project and would like to try something like that within my community. A question I have had about sending scripture verses by twitter is how to handle the copyright issues. Did you have to get explicit permission from the publisher of the version that you are using?

[chad]

Una-if you look at the front of most bibles you will see that there is a statement regarding how much text can be used before permission needs to be granted. Since we don't charge for our reader, and we don't exceed the amount we don't have a problem. If you are super concerned the NET translation is free from any copyright laws, you can access it at netbible.com.

[Una Malachica]

Thanks, Chad, for your prompt reply. I forget that the NRSV is not the only translation that Methodists use.

I visited the netbible site and was impressed.