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Of Starry Pixels

The Wise Men of old beheld a star,
Named and ordained
Light years of old.
They divined a birth.

The years of faces buried in tomes
Of great lore, mystic meditation,
And in skies of wonder,
Led to epiphany.

Behold! A new heavens and a new earth.

And we, in this brave new world,
Do seek our enlightenment,
As we too, with faces buried
In skies of wonder,

Of starry pixels,
Dotted across the expanse
Of black screens
Of plasma and plastic,

Behold the new heavens.

Should we look up
For a moment,
We would lose sight
Of our cosmos, our creation,

Our flesh made word;
Disincarnate; reality made virtual,
Heavens made space,
Space made cyber.

Behold the new earth.

Bring your gifts from afar
And rejoice in the constellations
Of individuals networked,
In ethereal formations,

Of thumbs up and thumbs down –
Those five fingered
Keepers of orthodoxy.
But where do they point?

To heaven or hell?

0 comments

  1. BC Cook says:

    Keepers of orthodoxy, indeed! Enjoyed the poem.

    I can hear the protest of some of my tech-heavy friends saying “but I experience God via technology. I’m impressed by alot of what goes on in the silicon world, and I attribute our abilities and accomplishments therein to God. You are impressed by what you see in nature, and attribute THAT to God. I do the same, but with technology, rather than nature. We just have a different ‘love language’, that’s all.”

    “……….”

    …Ok, so they probably wouldn’t articulate it quite like that, but I think it is an accurate diagnosis of an attitude held by many of the more tech-obsessed church goers.

    • Heath says:

      The thing is…I’m really not against technology. I am thankful But as with all things you love, there’s always a need to contradict it at some points. One of the points I have taken from Chesterton is that sometimes you have to love something by being against it. That’s how it often is with patriotism: you don’t love a country by simply swallowing everything it tries to give you.There are times for jeremiads – times for weeping at what you see.

      That’s all. You’ve probably figured out that I’m not a Ludite. I take our technologies as gifts that are given (along with all things) for us richly to enjoy. But, as with food, I want to lament the inordinate amount of grease that is used in the cooking, and the effect it has on health.

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