Changing the Conversation

I have been blogging in various forms for now almost four years. My blog-father, like many others linked to the right, was Andrew Jones. I was drawn to blogging because it offered a chance for our little faith community to have a more public space for conversation that wasn't tied down to a physical "meeting". However, I soon began getting emails from people all over the place adding comments and asking questions. It took me by surprise at first - why would anyone care about what we have to say? But then I began to see that many of the questions we were asking as a community were not unique by any stretch of the imagination.

So what quickly developed was a network of people sharing ideas, asking similar questions, and generally spreading around lots of goodwill and encouragement. I made some new friends during that time, some of which are developing into lifelong partnerships. Many of those people in the link section I still stay in contact with and some I even see face-to-face a few times a year. It's nothing organized...no movement or denomination has formed - thank the Lord. The essence of my connection to these people is deeper than a shared vision or being a part of the same club. We have, in many instances, walked through the crap together. Unanswered questions, pain, loss, anger, depression, confusion...all because we have left Christendom behind and declared that we want to learn what life and community look like in the kingdom of God. That is why so many of us have continued blogging and stayed connected to this wider online conversation.

Somewhere along the way, that conversation has changed. Recently, Brian McLaren posted an article on Christianity Today's Out of Ur blog that generated quite a bit of controversy. Now there is nothing wrong with controversial topics and people having sharp disagreements about a topic. Been there, done that. I have majored in difficult conversations over the past five years. However, if you take the time to read through the comments section on his post and subsequent response posts, something emerges that gives me pause. Somewhere, somehow, it seems like people must have got it all figured out. "Journey" became a buzzword...and then an anachronism. If a question is asked, you better have an answer or at least a darn good reason why the question needs to be asked in the first place. The "conversation" is really not much of a conversation at all any more. It's a series of volleys and returns...make an argument, defend the argument, tear down someone else's argument. Gone is the sense of the common journey - traveling the road to Emmaus asking, "What does this mean?"

Frankly, I don't have the time or energy to defend everything I say or think. Sorry, that's not why I write. I write to keep moving forward on this journey we've been on for the past five years, to stay connected with others on the journey, and to engage with others who are just moving out into new territory. It is my hope that at least in this small corner of the blog world, fellow travelers can continue asking our questions and have our hearts burn within us as the One comes and explains all things.