This morning I led the Sunday service from a booklet rather than my tablet. The reason is that somehow, the advent service I put together for the parish has disapparated from my computer. I’ve no idea where it has got to so I’m stuck with the hard copy in booklet form.
I was lost. In the three years I’ve been developing my liturgies and the way in which I use them on a Sunday morning the tablet has become an ingrained part of that. From duplicating the words and images on the screen via Splashtop to flicking to the collect in the app, it would seem I do a lot more than reproduce the booklet. Also, as the service develops over the course of the hour I change things. I type things into the later parts of the service as the morning unfolds. The tablet allows me to pay attention to the way the Spirit of God is moving among us as a congregation. I can respond to what the children say as they work among us or add pieces of scripture that the congregation mention during the teaching to later parts of the service. Much like a live musician responding to the needs of the congregation with the music rather than a prerecorded backing track.
Today I realised how much the tablet allows us to engage with God in a fluid way as we listen to the Spirit.
