Be Nice at the Stillman Valley Post Office

Social Media is the new community center. Christians need to make a conscious effort to be salt and light as they visit their "mailboxes."

 I understand our Stillman Valley post office looks modest in the picture. Truth be known, it is a fairly quiet place. What with the rise of the Internet (and the closing of our hardware store) traffic has slowed down.

But there was a day when it was happening place. Everyone in town has a mailbox there. And we had multiple grocery stores and all communication went through the post office.

In those days, it was important for Christians to be salt and light in the post office. It still is for that matter. It's just that we don't use the post office nearly so often. I can go weeks without ever darkening the door. Back in the day, if a person had been a grouch in the post office, he would have soon had a reputation in the community.

But all that has changed. Now we are visible virtually more than we are visible at the post office. We see each other on Facebook more than picking up our mail. But make no mistake. Manners have never been more important for the Christian. Facebook and Twitter give us the opportunity to shine the light of Christian kindness for an ongoing world to see.

Chris Brauns is the Pastor of The Red Brick Church and the author of Unpacking Forgiveness and When the Word Leads Your Pastoral Search. You can follow him on Twitter at ChrisBrauns.