From Doomscrolling To Discernment (February 1, 2026 Worship Service)

What happens when you put social media and AI on trial using Scripture as the judge? We invite you into a creative, candid journey through anxiety, attention, and the spiritual disciplines that help us live with peace in a noisy world. Grounded in Philippians 4 and Proverbs 4, we explore how prayer, gratitude, and a straight path can coexist with modern tools—if we choose them intentionally.

We share real stories from our community: livestreams that connect the homebound, online prayer chains that carry people through crisis, and digital organizing that gathers clergy across the country to support vulnerable neighbors. Then we face the hard parts—doomscrolling, outrage cycles, and the subtle ways our phones train our eyes away from the person right in front of us. The verdict is nuanced and practical: technology can be a faithful servant but makes a terrible master.

You’ll hear a simple practice that changes everything: a “brick” that locks news and social apps at night, requiring a deliberate step to unlock. It’s not withdrawal; it’s choosing when to engage so attention can rest, curiosity can breathe, and prayer can take root. We name attention as the scarce currency we all share equally, the resource that shapes our empathy and our discipleship. And we close with Mary Oliver’s three-part rule of life—pay attention, be astonished, tell about it—offering a weekly rhythm you can try today.

If you’re craving calmer mornings, clearer focus, and a kinder relationship with your phone, this conversation offers both encouragement and tools. Listen, reflect, and then join us: subscribe, share with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a review with one practice that helps you keep your eyes on what is true.

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Transcript

Gathering And Call To Worship

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey neighbors, the Lord be with you. Welcome on behalf of the people who are Guilford Heart Presbyterian Church to this worship service on Sunday, February 1st. I hope that wherever you are, you are safe and warm and cozy. Yes, I realize the irony of uh two out of our three worship services in the Stop the Scroll sermon series has been done on a uh in a digital format. But I actually think that that's great because one of the things we're gonna talk about uh later on in the sermon is how social media, technology, artificial intelligence, and things like that can actually be very helpful tools if we use them with restraint and intentionality. So that's part of the spiritual disciplines that we're gonna talk about later on today. But for now, we are going to be gathered in worship. Um, friends, let us be called to worship our one holy God. Dear friends, rejoice in God always. Let's say it again. Rejoice. May our gentleness be known, for God is near. Let us not worry about anything for God is near. We will ask for what we need in prayer and offer thanks to God in prayer. We rejoice and give thanks that the peace of God will guard our hearts, that the peace of God will guard our minds, and the peace of God will be with us in this time of worship and beyond. Come let us worship God.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

Come and worship God.

Confession And Assurance Of Grace

Community News And Upcoming Events

Breath Prayer And Scripture Readings

SPEAKER_01 1:27

All right, friends, we're gonna go to the hospital. Let us come to God and confess our sins together in prayer. Dear God, we confess how difficult it is for us to accept your invitation to deeper discipleship. We can be self-absorbed and too busy following our own agendas. We can be tied up with all our demands, responsibilities, promises, and regrets. We confess we are often afraid and anxious. We also admit, oh God, how difficult it is these days to live as hope-filled people who trust in your grace and mercy. Lord God, forgive all these ways we fall short. Help us choose life in all its fullness over substitutes that leave us sick and tired, empty and wanting. Amen. Friends, wherever you are this day, rest in this good news that there is nothing in life or in death or anything in between that can ever, ever separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. So I announce to us this day the good news of the gospel. Our sins are forgiven. Hallelujah. Amen. Kit Schoolie has been waiting very patiently to finish his uh his Sunday school on the uh writings of the early church that did not make it into the uh biblical canon, but he will uh finish that on Sunday, February 8th, assuming that we have thought out by then and can resume in-person worship. Uh so that'll be on Sunday, February 8th. I will not be here that weekend. I will be in New in New York City with Bill Allred, uh, where we are going to be at the wedding of Jasmine Ismail and Joshua Owens. You all probably know them. Jasmine sings, and Joshua Owen plays the oboe often for us on um on Christmas Eve. So I will be away um next weekend. But uh Dylan Newellin is gonna be preaching and leading worship. It's also gonna be Lady Sunday, so we're gonna have a lot of different uh readers and liturgists, so invite you to come next Sunday, February 8th. I also want to bring to your attention um an upcoming uh book discussion by our Justice and Peacemaking Committee. It's gonna be on Sunday, February 15th at 1115 a.m. It's gonna be a brunch and learn, and they're gonna talk about the 2021 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Wilmington's Lies, by Zay by David Zuccino. Uh and it's about the Wilmington coup of 1898. So as we celebrate Black History Month, this book discussion will provide an opportunity to learn and discuss how a thriving interracial government in the city of Wilmington was violently overthrown, leading to a large number of African Americans either being killed, banished, or having their votes suppressed. So you are invited to join the discussion as we reflect on this dramatic historical event that reversed progress in Wilmington's race relations. Um you can please sign uh the sign-up sheet uh in the hallway at our church to assist with planning. There are some copies of the book that are here in the church office if you would like to pick one up to read for yourself, although the committee did want me to share with you that it's not necessary to have read the book to participate in the discussion. But it is our hope that the discussion will be informative and uh help make us aware of the need to prevent history from being willfully misrepresented um or repeated. So the Justice and Peacemaking Committee invites you to that. Uh also later on in this month, uh on February 22nd, we will be having two events here at the church. One is going to be a hymnsing that is going to be uh going to feature uh some of the 27 hymns in our glory to God hymnal that were written by African American composers that will be at 4.45 p.m. in the sanctuary. And then stick around after that because at 6 p.m. we are having our annual chili cook-off, which is always one of our favorite events here at Gilfruit Park Presbyterian Church. So make sure to have that evening February 22, uh February 22nd on your calendar. Finally, uh we have an upcoming spring musical. So if you're a kid from kindergarten to eighth grade that would like to participate in the spring musical on or offstage, uh please let Dr. Bill know. All levels of experience are welcome. If you're not really a singer but would love to act, let us know. If you're a youth or an adult too old for an on-stage role, but still want to participate behind the scenes, let Dr. Bill know. We'd love to know the level of interest before selecting scripts. Um so if you have skills with sewing or teaching choreography or anything like that, let Dr. Bill know. It takes a village. And then finally, um our uh Greensboro Urban Ministry dinner was canceled last week, but we do have one coming up on March 25th. So we still have some time before that, but go ahead and put it down on your calendars if you are able to volunteer in that capacity. All right, friends, let us breathe together as is our practice, and then we will uh read our upcoming scriptures. Alright. Breathe in God's mercies. Breathe out God's mercies to others. Breathe in God's mercies. Finally, breathe in God's mercies. Breathe out God's mercies to others. Friends, let us pray. May we take a break from the dizziness and the noise of the world to have our hearts stilled that we may rest in the redeeming word that comes to us this day. Amen. Alright, friends, our first reading this day comes to us from Paul's letter to the Philippians chapter 4, verses 6 through 9. Let us listen for what God is saying to God's church. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, and whatever is just whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. As for the things you have learned and received and heard and noticed in me, do them, and the God of peace will be with you. Friends, holy wisdom, the holy word. Thanks be to God.

SPEAKER_04 18:16

Look what I have. Who do you think made these? These were all made by people from our church, people who sit in our pews made these. You know what is special about them?

SPEAKER_03 18:38

What?

SPEAKER_04 18:40

Every time that they're knitted or crocheted or sewed, every stitch, the people are praying. They're praying. Whoever gets this, I hope you feel our love. Whoever gets this, I hope you know you have a family here.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

Well, I crocheted all this country high cookies.

SPEAKER_04 19:01

Maybe one day he will make a blanket for us. You think so? And then when somebody's feeling lonely or somebody is sick, we can give them one and they can wrap it around them, and they will be covered in our love. Wouldn't that be a nice feeling? All right, so we are going to bless these, say a special blessing, so that when people get them, they can feel all the prayers and all the love. Okay? Yeah. Pastor Stephen, can you bless these for us?

Prayer Shawls Blessing

Proverbs And Philippians Framing

Mock Trial Of Technology

Prosecution: Distraction And Anxiety

SPEAKER_01 19:36

All right, let's pray, okay? Gracious and loving God, we give you thanks for these prayer shawls, woven with care, patience, and love by the hands of your people. Bless them, we pray, that all who receive them may feel your nearness, your comfort and grief, your strength and sickness, and your peace in moments of fear and uncertainty. May these shawls be a tangible sign. Of your abiding love and of the community of faith that surrounds each person who is wrapped in them. By the power of your Holy Spirit, let them carry warmth, hope, and healing, and the love of Christ. Remind each one that they are never alone. And may all of us, God's children, say, Amen. And now let us listen again for what God is saying to God's church using the words of Proverbs chapter 4, verses 25 through 27. Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Keep straight the path of your feet, and all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left, turn your foot away from evil. Holy wisdom, holy word. Thanks be to God. Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable and pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen. So you may not have heard it on the news. We didn't make the news, but I still think it was newsworthy. Here at Guilford Park Presbyterian Church, we had a trial just a few weeks ago. Not a real trial, of course. No gavels or subpoenas, but a faithful one. A trial held in the Court of Christian Discernment. We had this trial with the group of the the Word This Week group that we get together most Tuesdays to talk about the scripture for the upcoming uh Sunday worship service. And we decided to have a little bit of fun and have a bit of a mock trial. We imagined what it would look like if we put social media and maybe artificial intelligence too on trial. What was the charge? Well, the charge was pretty simple. That social media and artificial intelligence and the like too often distracts the people of God from presence, peace, and the straight path of discipleship. We entered two pieces of evidence into the record. Exhibit A from Proverbs that we just read. Do not swerve to the right or to the left. And then exhibit B from Philippians, where Paul urges us not to be consumed by anxiety, but to pray and to fill our minds with whatever is true, honorable, just pure, and life-giving. So we had some fun with this. We divided the group up into two teams, the prosecution and the defense. We went to separate uh separate rooms and they came up with their arguments, and then we came back. I put on my black robe. We I didn't have a gavel though, it was the only thing that was missing. And then they gave their arguments. The prosecution, um, led by Laura Peck and her team, made a very strong case. They argued that our devices are designed to pull our eyes everywhere except straight ahead. That endless scrolling trains us to swerve away from the people in front of us, away from silence, away from prayer. They talked about how anxiety, comparison, outrage, and how easily our minds can become crowded with things that leave little room for precious peace. But then the defense stood up. This was led by Tim Peck, who is an actual lawyer in real life, and the defense told different stories. Stories of people who um are homebound or sick and or traveling and can't get to church, but still are able to worship with us because of our live streaming ministry. They told stories of prayer chains, pastoral care, justice work that is organized online. The defense argued that the problem isn't the tool itself, but whether it serves prayer and love or replaces them. Technology, they said, can be a servant of the gospel, but it makes a terrible master. And even though I had on the robe, the real judge was scripture. Um the scripture that we read from Proverbs and from Philippians, and uh th those scriptures ask the hardest questions of all. Does social media and artificial intelligence, technology, does it help us keep our eyes on the path? Does it draw us toward prayer or toward panic? Uh-huh. Does it shape us into people of peace or people perpetually on edge? On edge. So when it came to a verdict, no one could really say guilty or not guilty. Instead, the best we could do was something like this. It's a useful tool, but a dangerous master. Or maybe it's good for mission, but terrible at teaching us how to pay attention. It was a really fun exercise, and I invite you to kind of uh have your own sort of mock trial and to assess how your use of social media, artificial intelligence, and technology and we'll add news consumption to this as well, how that is affecting your uh spiritual life. It's a really tricky thing. And uh I just wanted to share with you all uh kind of both of the uh arguments of the prosecution and the defense in my own experience. Um I am really grateful for how social media has helped me stay in uh contact and in collaboration with my fellow colleagues in ministry. Um I have served churches uh in uh in Georgia, New York, Kentucky, and now obviously here in North Carolina. So I have colleagues from all over the country. Uh many of you all know of the unrest and the violence that is uh taking place on the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul right now, where there's a lot of fear, and there are a lot of our immigrant and refugee neighbors that are scared to go out, to go to doctor's appointments, to go to school because of being targeted by ice. So I used, I worked with some other colleagues of mine, and we used social media to get a bunch of clergy together from all over the country. There's about 140 of us on the Zoom call to meet with some clergy uh that are on the ground in the Twin Cities to to hear what they're doing, what those churches are doing there to help their neighbors. And it was a really great conversation. And it's a conversation that couldn't have happened if we did not have the tools that we used, just uh social media, Facebook, Zoom, and we shared our best practices and we prayed with one another and for one another. And that is a really great example of how social media can help the church uh be the church and to do the work of discipleship. So that's kind of my case uh for the defense. Um I've already mentioned today that our live streaming ministry here at the church is uh so uh very important. Um and not only because uh studies have shown that shown that first-time visitors at your church, uh at this church and any church, there's like a 95% chance that before they ever physically step in the door, they've already checked out your live stream. Um so that is a really important way that we get the message of Jesus Christ, um, but we share that beyond the doors of our church. So that's I think a strong case in the in the in the for the defense. However, I must also confess the prosecution has some really good arguments as well. I have like so many of you have learned that I I'm just getting overwhelmed and anxious and doom scrolling way too often. Uh, and it's something that I think is important to recognize that it needs to be reined in. Um so I wanted to share with you all uh one of the things that I've been trying on for size the past few weeks. Um this is my my phone, my my brand new iPhone 17 that I love. Um but I cannot currently read the news. I cannot use it to read the news, I cannot use it to scroll social media because all of those apps are currently disengaged on my phone. The reason for this is because I got something that's called a brick. And what it is, it's a it's a little magnet. I meant to bring it with me, but I forgot. It's a little magnet that stays um on our fridge.

unknown 28:28

Uh-huh.

Defense: Tools For Ministry And Care

SPEAKER_01 28:29

And if I want to read the news w uh with the app that I use, I I regularly read the New York Times and and NPR and and other sources, um, those apps are blocked along with our Facebook and TikTok and Instagram. Uh and the only way I can use those uh apps is if I physically go to my fridge and I tap my phone against it and I unbrick it, so to speak. And then it lets me use those uh apps um and there's a schedule so that it turns those apps off. I have it set for 9 p.m. So every night at 9 p.m., all those apps get um get blocked. Uh-huh. And it really helps me. It means that I can't do scroll in bed. I'm actually doing this wonderful thing called pleasure reading. And I don't get distracted, and I don't uh, you know, I if I want to scroll on Facebook, I have to actually get out of my cozy warm bed and walk downstairs and tap my phone against the fridge. So again, I'm not I'm not withdrawing from the world. I'm still reading the news, I'm still engaging with my colleagues and friends on Facebook and TikTok, but I'm trying to do it with more intentionality because what I've learned is this. Some people think that the most precious commodity that we have to give or to receive is money. But I've actually come to a bit of an epiphany during the season of epiphany, that it's not money. The most valuable, precious commodity that you and I exchange with one another is attention. Where we give our attention is so very important. I have the same capacity for attention as the richest man in the world does. So where we choose to give our attention is often where we focus our passion, our discipleship, our empathy, our curiosity. And uh so I want all of us to be mindful about where we are choosing to give our the commodity of our attention. So as you engage in social media, artificial intelligence, technology, news consumption, just be mindful of that with me. And let's do this work together. And so I want to leave us this day with one of my favorite poems by Mary Oliver. It's on the door of my office, so next time you walk by my office, you can you can read it. And it's simply called this Instructions for Living a Life. And the poem is very simple. Mary Oliver's three instructions for living a life is pay attention, be astonished, and tell about it. So, friends, do that this week as you go about stop the school for a little bit, pay attention. Find something that astonishes you, that blesses you with love and curiosity and wonder, and then share it with your neighbor, and you just might find a little bit more peace, a little bit more calm, and a little bit more energy for when the time is ready to get back to work, bending that moral arc of the universe towards the justice that God has promised us. Friends, in the name of God, the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, may all of us God's beloved children say. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 35:15

Let us give our tithes, our tithes, and our offerings. Our offerings.

SPEAKER_01 38:56

O God, whose wisdom surpasses our understanding. Help us to grow as a people of blessing as we offer our prayers for the church and the world. We pray for those who mourn. May they know the comfort of your abiding presence. We pray for the meek, that they may receive the goodness of your earth. We pray for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. May they be filled with goodness. We pray for those who are merciful. May they also receive mercy. We pray for the pure in heart, may they see you face to face. We pray for the peacemakers, may they be recognized as your children. We pray for those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness. May they know the protection of your realm. We rejoice this day and give thanks for the many blessings of this life and for the gift of heaven, which is ours.

unknown 40:59

He has burst the free expression. Let the whole wider rejoice. Death is common, we are free. Christ is one of victory. Free is risen.

SPEAKER_03 41:15

Christ is risen. We shall reign for all eternity. Christ is brush to the Holy State.

unknown 41:34

We are free, are free. Death is conquered. We are free.

SPEAKER_03 41:44

Christ is one of victory. Come in no more. All of us need to save now we single by two brings and split. Sing out with joyful voice.

unknown 43:11

Death is God, good we are free. Christ is one of victory.

Prayers Of The People And Offering

SPEAKER_01 43:35

Neighbors, it's been so great to gather with you all virtually this day. Again, I hope that wherever you are, you are safe and that you are warm and that you know that you are loved. And remember, you have your marching orders this week. Pay attention, be astonished, and tell about it. In the name of God, the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, may all of us God's beloved children say. Amen.