Well, as it happens, I haven’t updated for a while. But I have been thinking a few things while not updating. Some of them are interesting, some mundane. And depending on who you are, you’ll find different bits those things and more.
So, some of you have been asking how I’ve been doing. And the answer is - quite well, thank you. The hard times have died down a bit, although there are days I feel lonely and, frankly, desparate, I’m keeping busy and I’m still surrounded by friends, whether they’re from Toronto, Mississauga, Texas, Ohio, or Nashvegas. Also, the music is great. I haven’t written as many songs as I have lately in a long, long time. And no, they’re not all forlorn lovesongs. Those just happen to be the good ones.
I’ve read quite a few books lately. Ones you should pick up are “State of Fear” by Michael Crichton (a devastating, stunning treatise on global warming and the culture of fear wrapped in fiction); Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay (high fantasy of the most distinguished sort - you really can’t go wrong with Guy); The Testament by John Grisham (a generally hit and miss author, but this one’s absolutely brillian); Sunstorm by Athur C. Clarke and Steven Baxter (this one’s going to be a science-fiction classic… it has all the markings); and Spin by Robert Charles Wilson (the author of Blind Lake, among others; an uneven book, but the premise and the ending are interesting). Right now I’m reading The Risen Empire by Scott Westerfeld, a novel about interstellar politics, neural networks, death as an agent of progress, and how all these things might mesh together. Sort of a cyberpunk meets space opera deal. I’ll tell you how this works out for me.
I’ve been thinking about blogging lately, and so has Jeremy Huggins, in a lecture given at Covenant College. It’s interesting the things that he brings up, from the bloggers driving the church toward a more participatory function, to the blogosphere becoming a compliment to and even replacement for traditional media. Also, some of the points he makes about what sort of community bloggers inhabit are cogent, and leave me nodding my head.
One of the points he makes that I think is terribly interesting is the change in culture - again, driven by bloggers - from a behind-closed-doors, analyst-driven, pivacy culture to a cathartic though-sharing culture. It’s an interesting thought. And it illustrates the divide that technology creates between generations, now, more than in the past. Most parents can’t understand why their children want to blog - generalization, I know, but true as far as I can tell. Why post your thoughts on the internet? Why let people know what you’re thinking, what you’re feeling? Aren’t you supposed to keep those things to yourself, ponder over them in private, and come to some sort of conclusion with the help of a few close friend, maybe, sometimes?
I don’t know. It sure doesn’t sound like that’s the way it should be. I mean, back in the day when people used to live in small tribes and villages, information sharing was an essential part of existance - you worked together, or you died together. If one person had a problem, the whole tribe had a problem. That something, I think, that’s been lost over the centuries - the fact that we live in community. And though I’ve been part of some crappy and some good communities, the fact is that it’s essential to our wellbeing as humans. Bloggers, I think, recognize that; it’s got to be at least part of the reason for having a blog. But bloggers have to realize that their community is largely artificial, too, much like people that go to church once a week and smile with eachother about trivialities. What’s the difference? A community can’t be bases on deceit, or even on neglect.
Like, when I post something here, you’re seeing what I choose for you to see. Let’s be honest with eachother - this is not an internal monologue. It’s an external, filtered lifelogue, if there is such a word. And you don’t see what I don’t want you to see, unless you’re an extremely talented empath. Of course, I may never lie to you on this blog. I may, however, neglect to say things about myself. Maybe I’ll delete a passage because I know it might offend some who read. Maybe I tailor what I write to the people that read. Who knows? You certainly don’t.
In that sense, I think the community blogging creates is artificial. I’d much rather see a community build around an existing community. For instance, if you have a message board build around a theme where like-minded people gather, meet eachother, and generally get to know eachother in a very real sense - build a network of blogs around that. It compliments the existing structure. You could do it with your church. Or your group of friends.
Take the Rumor Forum. I know a lot of people on there from talking to them on the boards, instant messaging them, and even talking to them on the phone. And at the next big .net meeting, I’m going to be there, and I’m going to meet these people face to face. I don’t think I’m going to be in for any real suprises. But you know what the strange thing is? I really do care about these people. Really. There are people who live in Ohio and Nashville and Memphis that I feel closer to than most of the people in my very own church. You might think that sad - but it the reality of an age where people are as connected as we are today. When these people go through stuff in their lives, I pray for them. I feel their pain.
I ask myself the question a lot: why? Why is it that I can feel kinship with people that are 500 kilometers away from me? Is it because I’m some kind of internet loser? No. Tonnes of people have this same feeling. Is it because it’s easy, and I can diconnect whenever I feel like it? I don’t think so - why would I spend time thinking about them when I’m not online? Is it because we mostly have common interests that draw us together? Sometimes - and that’s a good starting place, but it’s not enough.
It’s all very interesting. I don’t know the answers. But I guess that time and the progression of technology will eventually hold them. At least in hindsight.
Back to the idea that bloggers like to participate. I’m playing hand drums and percussion at a good Pentacostal church tomorrow morning. I love doing that, not for any glory of my own, or even the rush of playing - my motive is, I think, that it makes me feel plugged in to something bigger than I am, in a way that merely singing hymns and listening to a sermon, frankly, do not. Call it postmodern of me if you will, but I have talents and gifts, and I must excersize them in some capacity. So I get out of my circles to do it. And it’s good. I think the next big challenge for my church is going to be keeping the youth; but not the way it used to be - keeping them from running with the wrong circles, and keeping them from being pre-occupied with earth. It’ll be more of youth feeling disenchanted with the fact that the church exists with or without them. Right now, someone saying “it wouldn’t be the same without you” is merely lip service, even if it’s cosmetically a truism. I think what the Blogculture is going to want is a church that is emphatically not the same without them - they’re investing in the structure of the church, integrated into the core of its being, and invited to be and do what they can for it.
I once expressed these things to an elder of a church long ago. He though I was talking about recognition - the idea that my ego needs to be fed by the church. In retrospect, that kind of thinking is a tragic mistake. I don’t want my ego fed, dammit! That’s the last thing I want, and most certainly the last thing I need. What I, and others of my generation are looking for is primarity belonging, and a sense of being needed is one facet of that desire that manifests itself primarity before any others. It’s the idea that any social structure is partly the sum of its members - and the church, although ordained by God and called to be in community, is exactly that. A social structure. It has a base of commonalities that exist through the ages, but at the end of the day, churches now don’t resemble churches then simply because the society and people have changed. And that’s not wrong - it’s exactly how it’s supposed to be.
Part of the church’s mandate (as a community, not as a social structure) is to meet people’s needs, and scripturally that means eachothers need first and foremost. The question, then, becomes, “How are we as a Church and as a community going to meet the needs of people who feel deeply committed to being involved?” And in my opinion, that’s going the be one of the critical questions in the coming decades - one that, in fact, far surpasses questions of doctrine and procedure. Simply because doctrine does not make good communities. Nor does procedure.
Now, after all that talking, a shift of gears. This week I bought a pink shirt. It is beautiful.
I would like to give a big shoutout to all my people: Laura, Nick, Kevin, Sarah, Lori, Jamie, Mary, _Steve, and of course, the Brotherhood of Mystery. Vampy and Roger - you all make the world go round. (In another age, I would have called you my homeboys. Thankfully, that age, and the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, is long gone.)
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