Friday Five: Blogging of yesteryears

I... like quite a few other folks who read the prompt this morning on RevGalBlogPals.blogspot.com have decided to get back into the game.  here are the questions, and here are my responses...

1) Have your blogging (writing/reading) habits shifted since the days of yore?

Photo By: Kriss Szkurlatowski

Absolutely.  There were days that I was posting something every single day. I'd get home from work and the thoughts would be reeling and I'd hop on my computer and post something.  Or I'd wake up in the middle of the night and run to my computer and post something.  They were sometimes funny, sometimes simple, sometimes deep, but I was doing it regularly. My reading was definately more sporadic... usually whatever popped up at the top of my google reader page... so the more you posted, the more I read you. 

Lately, my blogging has NOT been a habit at all.  It's something I do when I have nothing else to do and it's still "work time."  At home, I have to cook, clean, garden, and sometimes I'm just exhausted.  I miss the processing time that more regular blogging gave me.  

2) Do you have some favorites that you miss?

The bloggers I miss most are my food bloggers... Bread and Honey was an absolute favorite for me and the posts are more sporadic. I also haven't done the best at staying in touch with others that aren't listed here. 

3) Are there some blogs you still put in the 'must read' category?

I think most of my favorite theology/ecclesiology writers are still regular bloggers. John Munier @ An Arrow Through the Air, Jay Voorhees @ Only Wonder Understands, Dan Dick @ United Methodeviations, Jessica Kelley @ the Parsonage Family, Matthew Kelley @ The Truth as Best I Know It, Kristin @ Halfway to Normal

 4) If we gathered at your knee, what would you tell us about those early days of blogging?

I started with things like livejournal, and I'm not sure that I ever cared very much about comments.  But then I began to see that blogging can be a conversation and a relationship with other people over the things that we write about.  And I have been a very bad friend lately.

5) Do you have a clip or a remembrance of a previous post of yours or someone else's that you remember, you know an oldie but goodie?

for your perusing pleasure, a link to an early post, and the first post after my introduction to RevGals... I think I chose this one because it brings up the kinds of questions that I try to ask on my blog, and also because it was one of those moments when I knew I had found something special with the community at RevGals... It is also a reminder for me that I really do need to start doing this more regularly. 

Taking Authority

In her book Reframing Hope: Vital Ministry in a New Generation, Carol Howard Merritt discusses the "diffusion of authority," the empowerment of the fringes, and the "celebration of noncelebrity" in her chapter on Redistributing Authority.

As I read those words, I began to feel a strange sense of validation for what I am doing.  I have a voice.  I have the ability to write.  I have a conversation that I want to start.  I want to participate.  But I don't want to do it alone.

This whole blogging adventure has been, fundamentally, about maintaining the connections with colleagues and schools of thought that have fed my theological and ecclesiastical development.  It is about hanging on tightly to those threads of tradition that have sustained my faith.  It is about picking up pieces scrapped by others, deemed unworthy, and trying to figure out what we need to hear about God from them.

And at times, it seems silly. 

At times, I find myself floundering around, trying to make sense of the world around me.

At times, I'm wrestling by myself with questions that have no real answers.

At times, I feel a little overwhelmed by the system and all of the things that I am supposed to do, all of the details of ministry.

At times, I really do not have the time to be a part of this kind of time intensive dialogue.

At times, I don't have the energy to fight the man and to call out the parts of our tradition and practice that trouble me.

And at times, I really really really want to share something and it's not appropriate to do so yet.  Not enough time and space has passed to allow the insights of a particular experience to be shared.

So I give up here and there.  I flounder.  I don't claim the authority I do have.  I feel that what I'm doing here is not really very important.

But then, today, I find myself surrounded by colleagues in ministry at an orders event and suddenly my name is called out for all to hear.  Someone has pointed to my blog as a place where vital theological reflection by United Methodists is being done.

And I feel humbled.

And a little embarassed.

And more than a little encouraged to keep doing what I am doing.

To take authority.

To keep writing.

To keep thinking.

To continue the conversation.

To accept that although I may be a young pastor, a small town pastor, someone on the fringe, someone who hasn't yet put in my years, that I still have something worthy to say.

To give myself space and permission to keep writing.