Blogging, politics, social commentary, faithful witness…

December 10, 2007

An early new-year’s resolution: I am going to start tending to Roeminations to make it a better blog. Don’t worry; I won’t wait until January to get started.

What makes for a good blog? This has long been an interesting question to me, but I think it is some combination of regular attention, original insight or at least some pointer to the same, a particular lens through which one views the world and articulates a vision, and a measure of intellectual honesty. What makes a good blog on issues of faith and the church includes all the former, and adds a commitment to the best ideals of Jesus Christ in the writing.

I aim for this blog to become more active in the weeks and months ahead. I hope for it to become a better blog than it currently is, so I’ll try to attend to the points listed above.

One of the difficulties is, I think, that my writing this blog links me in some way to the church and denomination I serve. This in many ways cannot be helped, and that is not in itself a bad thing. I am a minister of word and sacrament in a particular denomination that feeds my spirit and in a particular church that gives context to my ministry. I love my church and my denomination which gives vibrant expression, in my judgment, to the gospel.

I’ve tried blogging under a pseudonym before, though, in part because I thought (and still do) that the freedom that it would offer was important–being able to write commentary without it being identified as a specific pastor of a specific church. In some ways that worked well, and in other ways it did not. But that venture is pretty much over for now, and I am back to Roeminations…

A few things that will become pretty clear. The blogging that I do here is not in any way the responsibility of Southminster or the Presbyterian Church or the like. I am related to them through ordination and installation vows; I am one of their pastors and representatives. My work and my life is intertwined with them, and Southminster hosts this website for the time being.

But this blog is not a Southminster blog; it is my blog, about things of interest to me or about things that I think are important, whether it is important to the life of Southminster or to Johnson County, Kansas, or to the wider world. This is an important distinction that I want to emphasize. And I gather that, just as I am afforded the freedom, and indeed am expected to exercise it, when approaching scripture for the purpose of exegesis and sermon preparation, the same will be presumed for this forum. Any failing you find on this page is solely my own, and I take responsibility for it.

So I might (or might not) talk about a whole host of things: various issues of theology or biblical exegesis; matters of church and state, thoughts about the wars we’re in over in Iraq and Afghanistan, what it means for our country to adopt torture as an “enhanced interrogation technique,” or things like that. In fact, that last one has captivated my conscience for quite a while now, and I think the church in America has lots to say about torture.

So, the commentary, vision, commitments laid out on these pages are my own, and I take sole responsibility for them. I don’t plan to be intentionally political, but I don’t plan to shy away from it either. I am who I am. I do not think a case can be made that Jesus Christ was a-political, either. Issues that he cared about–poverty, purity, peace–intersect with the public realm and thus have a political dimension. The church has something to say about things that are happening in the world.

However, I also know that you are who you are, and I love you for it. I will endeavor to write with respect for honest differences of opinion, with candor and humility, and with love and faith for God and God’s creation. I promise, like I do in every aspect of my life, to conduct myself with as much integrity as I am able, living my life in such a way that commends the gospel as I am able to articulate it.

I don’t suspect that everyone in my church or that all those who stumble across the blog will agree with the whole substance of the posts I make, but that is ok, since I believe in the importance of diverse voices at the table when discussing these matters.

If you would like to, I encourage you to comment as you wish. I tend to allow quite a bit of leeway with comments, though I will not permit comments which are in my sole judgment spam (of course), vitriolic or abusive, off topic, or beyond the pale. I don’t take responsibility for what others write there, but I’ll try to keep it both as free as possible and as upright as possible. I admit, that’s a hard balance. Take it for what its worth.

With all that said, lets begin anew, shall we?

Posted in blogging