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Twitspiration: n. a wise or inspiring phrase included as a 140 character or less entry on Twitter.com. Just invented Synonyms: Twisdom, Twepithets.
It had to happen. Someone was going to try to fit big round pegs through Twitter's itty-bitty square holes.
Enter Chris Juby, a UK worship director who will summarize one chapter of the Bible everyday.
"It is perhaps regarded as a bit of an oddball thing to do. I hope in doing the summary, it will inspire people to read the Bible for themselves. My summaries are no substitute for the real thing."
I suppose with chapters such as "Jesus wept," John 11:35, the shortest verse in the Bible, the task will be easy. But let's look at the first entry posted by Juby, and compare it to the sweeping narrative of the creation story that goes through each day, and speaks of God's joy in His handiwork. The original version is quite an awe-inspiring tale. Read it here. But here is a taste -- the first day only (KJV):
1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And Juby said in less than 140 characters "God created the heavens, the earth and everything that lives. He made humankind in his image, and gave them charge over the earth."
Well, sure.
And if you'd like to follow the stories, or his summaries of the chapters over the next three years, you can follow it here, @Biblesummary.
He says on his own website
"Will I really be able to do justice to all 176 verses of Psalm 119 in 140 characters? Probably not. But the challenge of being so brief will force me to engage with the text and understand the key themes. And that's partly the point in the first place - I want to be an active rather than a passive reader of Scripture!"
Of course, that will make his readers even more passive! But will he attract readers that would not encounter the Bible in its fullness elsewise?
Just as a sidelight, look at his personal Twitter page to see how fame and 5,000 followers have overtaken him in just a couple of days. He is quite genuinely amazed.
I love literature. And surely the Bible classes as literature even if you are not a believer. I must confess, even the literature-lover in me feels cheated -- like going to a fine restaurant and only getting a copy of the menu, without the food itself. But that's me. I wouldn't read the Cliff's notes to King Lear, either.
And there are other services like this. Bible-SMS.com offers free daily "Christian and Bible messages " to your cell phone. It is not clear who is the main source for the site, but they also are available on Twitter as @Bible_SMS.
Thanks to Jolie O'Dell at Mashable for listing even more Christian wisdom fast food on Twitter:
- @VersesfromBible which says it is non-sectarian and random in order.
- @Daily_Bible which seems to emphasize quotes on Christian salvation.
- @BiblePromises which organizes quotes by areas in which they believe the quote can be helpful or inspiring: Courage, Peace, Hope, health, Anger, Stress and so forth.
But it does not stop with Christian sites -- there are bits of compressed wisdom from almost all faith traditions.
There are similar sites for Muslims and the @Quran.
Twitter Torah is a book that purports to bring Torah commentary in at less than 140 characters for s sole comment on a passage.
And, inspirational figures such as The Dalai Lama have a twitter presence.
Rumi, the 1th century Sufi mystic even gets a Twitter quote presence here, and here.
In fact, looking up "inspiration" as a name on Twitter presents a dazzling array of potential venues for Twitspiration.
Do you use Twitter for inspiration? If you found a brief Twitter quote that was a chapter summary, would you ever look up the original?
