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Using online worship as an example, we can acknowl- edge that streaming a service is helpful for the elderly, shut-ins, and members who cannot attend church. In March of 2020, for better or for worse, that was al- most all of us. Amid a crisis that none of us could have imagined, online worship was helpful in that it allowed the Word of God to be preached in each of our homes. This reminds me of Paul's letters from prison. Paul expressed his desire to be with his fellow Christians in person, yet when he was unable to do this due to physical constraint, he gave them the gift of the Word of God using the technology of the day (written letters and Roman-built roads!). Many faithful pastors spent a lot of time and energy putting together online Bible studies and devotional content at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic out of love and a desire to serve their neighbors, and it was a blessing to many. When we think about the negative results of online worship, or what opportunities to love and serve our neighbor might be missed, we must recognize that the most glaring omission in online church is the ability to receive Communion. In the Lord's Supper, we confess that Jesus is truly bodily present, giving us His very body and blood to eat and to drink, as hosted in and by the bread and wine. Through this body and blood of Christ, Jesus makes us His Body. The very word Com- munion points to this reality: the Sacrament of the Altar is fundamentally Jesus' way of being with us in the flesh and of uniting us to Himself and to one another. When we realize this, the concept of an online worship service marks a categorical shift away from the bibli- cal understanding of what it means to be the Body of Christ. When we participate in something online, we participate only intellectually and emotionally—we do not participate bodily. Our God is a God of the incarna- tional, bodily, physical realm. Jesus did not save the world in a spiritual, intellectual sense, but physically. He did it by being born as a man and bodily dying and rising again. In His Supper, He meets with us bodily once again and unites us to Himself. We want to teach our children to seek Jesus in the places where He has revealed Himself to be—in the pages of Scripture and the Sacraments. When we look to God's Word, we see that it is important to continue to gather physically in worship each week so we can receive the forgiveness of sins, be strengthened in our faith, and participate in the community of the Church. As parents, we will face significant decisions regarding our kids and technology, but technology itself is not the issue. Our calling as we raise children is to "bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4). This means modeling for them how to translate their values and what they know of God's Word into new situations they face. What does it mean to love God and love your neigh- bor in the way you use a camera? interact on social media? keep the Sabbath holy? utilize potentially addictive devices? There may be no obvious one- size-fits-all guidelines for technology use. But as we raise our children in homes infused with God's Word and His love, we steward technology, as we do all our possessions, by considering whether each use helps us love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. Finally, we must remember that our children are not our own. They are God's children, first and foremost, and He loves them and cares for them. He has given them parents as a gift for their benefit and provision, and to that end, we are thoughtful and careful in how we bear this responsibility. But ultimately, we cannot place our hope in our own ability to shield our children from the world or provide them with the perfect child- hood or ideal environment. We are imperfect, the world is a sinful place, and we will fail. But we have a God who calls our children by name and has promised to be with them always. We do not need to fear technology or the future because Jesus is the king of all things. w 12 Lutheran Life

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