Earlier than Usual

It's Sunday morning, about 8:20 am., and I've already been at the church for about 20 minutes. Much earlier than usual. Sarah has a friend visiting, so in order to stay out of the way of the big bathroom rush in the morning, I shaved last night, and then got up to have my shower far earlier than I usually do on Sunday morning. My sermon is already printed, and the prayers should find their way to hardcopy very shortly.

Don't get me wrong, I am still not a morning person, but I will admit I occassionally catch glimpses of why my father-in-law likes this time of day. It's given me a lot more time this morning than I usually have, and there's something to be said for being able to collect my thoughts.

This past Thursday, I drove up to Stratford to see a friend and colleague. On the way, I was listening to CBC Radio One. Towards the end of Sounds Like Canada, there was a fascinating show called Terry O'Reilly and The Age of Persuasion. Which explored the history of advertizing, and explaining why in the 21st Century our societal and personal attention spans have become so short. There's a lot more than I can fit in here... I looked to see if there was a podcast available for download, but alas, not that I can find... at least not yet. I'll keep you posted, but it's very much worth a listen. He does a show every week, usually Thursdays around 11:30am... I'll try and tune in this week and see what he has to say...

However, listening to this reveals a lot of how the age of advertizing has had a tremendous impact on the ability of congregations to participate in worship... especially with reduced attention spans... I'm going to give this a bit of thought and write something more later.