Using SMS to power confession and absolution

Link: jonnybaker: worship trick 69 – communion by numbers.

text a confession on your mobile phone to the number prefacing it with the word confess (an absolution with the words you are forgiven is triggered by the keyword confess)

Jonny works for the Church Mission Society who, as he puts it, ‘help reimagine church and mission’.

Now and again I’ve read press releases about various enterprising organisations or individuals who setup prayer-by-text services or the like. However I haven’t yet read about a real-world application of the text medium to worship. As a result I was delighted to come across this blog and read how they were using the technology. In this example, it looks as though they were testing delivering communion without any leadership required.

Jonny continued:

The texting confession was brilliant! the absolutions didn’t come until later during the sharing of bread and wine – coincidence or divine intervention?!

Sounds like a bit of a delay on the SMS gateway — but no matter!