I really appreciate the discussion about “The Passion” that we’ve been having around here over the last week. I’ve asked some questions and shared a few opinions. I’ve had good friends disagree with me sharply and people I don’t know very well chime in with support. The conversation here has spilled over into email and face to face discussions. I have no idea how you’ve found all this, but I have found it to be extremely helpful.
If I were rewriting my previous posts on this topic I would delete a few sentences and sharpen the point on some others. But in my mind, and at my site, that’s not what blogging is about. This is a conversation. This is me thinking out loud and you getting a chance to think out loud with me by making comments. (I wish I had more time to interact with the individual comments that are made, but I don’t.) Not everything I write here is my “official position” on any given subject. Sometimes I’m submitting my off-the-wall thoughts, tentative conclusions, and hair-brained ideas to the wisdom (and sometimes for the amusement) of the community that reads this blog.
I’m saying all this because I know there are a variety of people reading this thing. Not everyone necessarily understands what I’m trying to do here. I’m usually pretty careful about what I say when I’m preaching. I’ve found that a sermon is not a very good place to think out loud unless I make sure people know that is what I’m doing, and even then . . .
When I’m having coffee with a friend, I’ve got a lot of freedom to express myself and not worry too much about what he will think. If I do say something too far off base, he can call me on it and I can refine my communication. I view this blog as being something in between a coffee conversation and something I might say from the pulpit. This is not an intimate conversation between friends, but it is not an act of formal communication either.
Whatever it is, I’m glad you’re a part of it. Thanks for reading.
By the way, Spencer Burke has posted an interesting article about “The Passion” over at the ooze.
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons