Together Separately...or e-God + iPod = iGod?

Podcasting is a great thing. I was able to listen to a half-hour talk on the Essentials for Salvation at work today while I was testing some software I had written. On the way into work this morning I heard that a church in Oregon (I think it was) is now putting their sermons in podcast so people can listen. What a terrific way to reach so many more people...I think. One of my favorite Christian Apologists is supposedly going to start podcasting his radio broadcast as well - which will be sweet if he does because he's in California and I usually have to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday to download his show so I can hear it. He's only on Sunday afternoons for a couple of hours and with podcasting, it will automatically download to my PC when it's available (geez, how lazy have I gotten - lol). I think all these things are good - you can download some of your favorite speakers (as long as they upload their talks/broadcasts/sermons) to iTunes (I'm not really sure how it all works) and listen to them anywhere in the world at the click of a button.

On the other hand, I am worried about the bad side of it as well. We've become, in such a short amount of time, a society that is more at easy in the world of Chat Rooms, Message Boards, Blogs, Instant Messengers and E-Mails, that we have begun to be isolated from human contact. If church is about community and fellowship and corporate worship - how dangerous is it that listening to a sermon is a click away on a computer and we can be fed without being in fellowship? Is it possible that the church, while trying to use technology in a beneficial way, can actually dissolve itself by the same technology? Perhaps that is a bit of an extreme view - but as quickly as things shift and change in our information age - is it a viable concern? Isn't part of the churches attraction our community?

While I think that we can use technology in a way that helps spread the Word, I hope we never reach the day where we all download our e-God to our iPod and worship sitting in front of our monitors together separately.

Shawn