So yesterday here at ONU, Chapel took a very different turn. Dr. Mark Quanstrom was on the docket to speak. He gave his sermon in 3 words: Quaff the Elixir.
Most of the folks in chapel yesterday got a vocab lesson - "quaff" meaning "to drink copiously & heartily", and "elixir" referring to a drink that's good for you, healthy, stirring to the mind, soul, & body. Dr. Q was referring to
Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas, where the phrase 'quaff the elixir' is known from the heyday of the bath houses in years gone by. And not only good for bathing, but the water was touted as good to drink. I doubt there are any medicinal properties to the water itself, but the park does monitor the water and it is safe to drink.
Dr. Q translated this to the spiritual life - to have a close connection with God, we must "quaff the elixir". That is, drink copiously of the life giving water, letting it nourish our souls and feed us. You can even
buy the T-shirt. We do this by observing Christian practices - prayer, reading scripture, attending church services, among other things.
But in addition to the message he delivered, Dr. Q also mentioned the fact that a number of students here at ONU live tweet the Chapel services, and he read some of the tweets from the previous day when Dr. Bowling had spoken. He spoke positively of this and said he was going to try and follow along with the live tweets during his own sermon and respond to them. This was a courageous way to try and integrate social media into the Chapel experience, and the students responded by MASS tweeting! The live tweets in chapel are generally tagged with the hashtag #onuchapel, which for those who don't know, is used in twitter and google+ as a way to connect the posts of various users under a single, clickable search term. That way, users who are all commenting on a common subject can connect with one another more easily. Unfortunately, Dr. Q's phone wasn't downloading correctly and he wasn't able to interact, but I give him major points for the attempt! (and for those new to twitter, the twitter account @ONUChapel is not at all the same thing as the hashtag #ONUChapel).
The official ONU twitter account (
@OlivetNazareneU) frequently retweets a few of the live tweets from the students during Chapel, selecting those that give a short, simple, great quote that relates the message. For the most part, the tweets were positive and encouraging from the students (
see them here). I know that some think that it is distracting during the Chapel service to do this. It's true that a cell phone can be pretty distracting, but just like any tool it can be used for good. It can be a way for listeners to find a gem from something they are listening to and share it with the world, and I think this should be encouraged. When I travel to professional conferences, live tweeting is common. I've done it several times myself, although I'm typically using
Google+ rather than twitter. It's a way to highlight the best stuff, the most interesting and/or relevant content of the message, and share it with a broader audience. You can sift through the tweets from the last couple of days and get a decent idea of how students were responding. Some of my favorites from yesterday:
"We only have life as long as we draw it from him."
"God is not a one time drink. We are always thirsty for him."
"Good message today Dr. Q. It gives me a lot to think about."
