One year ago today I began this weblog with this post on my reasons for writing. It’s been a fantastic journey for me so far, and I very much appreciate all the comments and encouragements I’ve received from regular readers. You guys have helped me flesh out ideas and see other perspectives. It’s truly been a dialogue, and I’ve been enriched by it. Thank you.
One example of how my thinking has morphed as a result of writing in an exploratory way is my posts on preaching. Especially if you scroll down to the posts titled "Preaching in the Postmodern World", you’ll notice me trying to work through the role of preaching in the postmodern world, and I think I’ve come out on the other side believing more strongly in preaching as a "midwife" for the Spirit. I found out it wasn’t preaching I was reacting against, it was bad preaching. It was a "Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater" thing for me. Blogging helped tremendously.
Many people have talked to me personally saying they have contemplated starting a blog. I always encourage them to do so. Even if you feel like you don’t really have much to say, or you can’t post all the time, or you aren’t extremely long-winded (like myself *blush*), blogging can be a very effective way of helping thoughts to coalesce, converse with people you wouldn’t normally have a chance to talk to, and just plain get better at writing. So go for it! And tell me where to find you 😉
To close, here’s an expansion on a long-forgotten post to serve as a reminder for us to not take ourselves too seriously (based on Luke 18:9-14):
To those who were confident in their hipness and relevance to culture and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:
“Two people went to pray, one an Emergent Hipster and the other a Traditional Pastor. The Emergent Hipster stood up and prayed about himself:
‘I thank you. Lord, that I am not like this traditionalist: stiff,
irrelevant, uncool, a real Gen-Xer, not. I practice authenticity by
coordinating my fashion with my spirituality. I only act virtuous when
I feel like it; there’s nothing worse than hypocrisy. I look, speak,
act and think like the rest of society so that I can show them how
relevant Christianity is. I’m not so sure it’s working. Amen.’"But the Traditional Pastor would not even look up to heaven. He sighed and prayed, ‘Lord I can’t make heads or tails of this postmodern stuff. Have mercy on me and help me love and serve the people you’ve given me. Amen.’
"I tell you the truth," Jesus said, "The Traditional Pastor was in the right, and the Emergent Hipster was not. Just because you have cool shoes and can point out what’s wrong with everyone else doesn’t mean you’re right with God. Your quick wit and cynical sarcasm might increase the traffic on your blog, but it won’t make you a saint. A little humility is better than all the postmodern street-smarts in the world."
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