Brave Old World

It happened today, as I reflected on the posts and comments on the blogs4God controversy. I knew it before, but it came to me with greater force today, especially as I tucked my kids in bed. With all my generation's talk about the emerging church, about escaping from Church, Inc. and becoming the body of Christ incarnated, of authenticity and love, we are just as capable of going so far off target that our kids will shake their heads one day. I'm not frustrated that bloggers disagree on an issue. We should. Uniformity is not something to be desired. Unity is, but unity doesn't require uniformity. Given our differences, and the fact that we're all in process, it's not surprising that we have differing perspectives on various issues (Iraq, anonymous bloggers, etc.). I'm frustrated with the tone of the disagreements. We should disagree, but I find ourselves in danger of condemning too quickly, of writing off others with the wave of a hand, of viewing the world through the lens of cynicism. Jordon Cooper quoted Len Sweet today: "No wonder why Len Sweet talks of the great spiritual awakening happening outside of Christianity and the church can't see out of its box far enough to see it." What scares me is the danger that I, and my generation within the emerging church, will fail to see it too. Update: Dean writes:

We are currently working on a technical solution that will allow for anonymous bloggers to sign up, while keeping our readers safe.

In the meantime, I hope we can show Dean a bit of grace.

Comments

[Bene Diction]

Do you think that when we disagree on line we cynically dismiss quickly because we forget real people blog? 60% of communication: tone, inflection, expression, is lost in text. We judge or get judged because we don't seem to remember this blogger or this commenter is a fellow human being. I think that is precisely why I like blogging. It offers challenges in communication I don't face in my day to day. Blog on!

[Darryl Dash]

I think you're on to something, Bene.

[Dean Peters]

We are currently working on a technical solution that will allow for anonymous bloggers to sign up, while keeping our readers safe. This system can, and eventually will be expanded to allow non-moderators to submit caches for posting, and some other fun stuff. Please be patient and give us some time to implement it. We've only got one code-monkey and he's already hip deep in bits.

[Darren]

Its a difficult one - I agree the 'online' nature of what we're doing in blogging adds a different dimension to our disagreements. I think most of us are still trying to work out what the implications of this new form of communication are....someone should write a book...