Holy Silence: Texting at funerals.
Technology is neither a blessing nor a curse. After all, it’s only a bunch of wires and silicone and electricity. It has no meaning but the meaning we give it.
In so many ways our virtually connected world can bring deep connection, especially around grief.
When virtual connection turns into a meaningful connection, we should embrace it, celebrate it and use it more. However, plugging in can also turn us off. When it comes to texting at funerals (no, really it happens at every funeral I’ve officiated at) it is far from holy.
When we text at funerals, no matter how important that connection on the other end might be, ultimately it is causing us to disconnect from the moment, the sorrow, the bereaved, the dead and ultimately our highest self.
Funerals are one of the last bastions of somber solitude, holy silence and text-free-space.
What does it say about us as a culture if we can’t take an hour and disconnect?
What does it say about us as individuals if we are connected to someone on the other end of that text, but can’t take these final few moments to connect with the grieving family in front of us or that man or women in the casket up front??
Texting at a funeral may not make a sound, however, the noise it causes to that sacred place and our inner space will ring loudly long after that hour long service is over and that casket in front of us is returned to the ground.
Carry The Fire (and turn off your cell phones at funerals),
Rabbi B
http://www.rabbib.com/
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