Blogs are like breakfast

Something that should be apparent in the world these days is the difference between blogging and other mediums. 

This is not a newspaper. I am not a reported. This is not an entry in a peer-reviewed journal or an encyclopedia. This blog is not a sermon. Because it publishes with great regularity (although not so far this month!) it is a direct reflection of the continuing ongoing thoughts in my life. 

Trying to find a metaphor that best expresses the etiquette of a blog, I fell short. Luckily this metaphor came across my reader from swissmiss: 

“There’s something sacred about reading a blog post on someone else’s site. It’s like visiting a friend’s house for a quick meal ’round the breakfast table. It’s personal — you’re in their space, and the environment is uniquely suited for idea exchange and uninterrupted conversation. In many ways, we should be treating our blogs like our breakfast tables. Be welcoming & gracious when you host, and kind & respectful when visiting.” – Trent Walton

As such, I have always tried to be respectful of those who take time to sit at this table. You are not required to sign in or even have a name associated with your comments. You are free to share as much as you like under a very open Creative Commons License. Just a reminder to everyone that blogs are personal things. It required vulnerability. It requires time. It requires patience and commitment. It does not require readers or subscribers. Blogs are written for those who write them and we the readers are not mandated to read. I am thankful for those who write (see "Change Agents" to the right) and allow me the opportunity to set up to their table and share in a meal. See how they are doing. Hear what they are thinking and walk away without a sense of reciprocity.

Yea, so I published on Patheos (kinda)

I submitted a short response to the Tony Jones challenge for progressive Christian "theo-bloggers" to say something about God.

Long story short, Patheos (one of the biggest religion sites) picked it up and put all the responses together here.

Jason Valendy made the cut at number 25. I don't think they are in any order at all, just in case you wanted to count.

Ray Altman - Living Stones

Do you have people in your life who seem to radiate the Spirit of God of a Peace that you also desire?

If you have that person in your life, I want to share with you that person in my life.

He is also a newly ordained young clergy but he ministers in the south of Texas.  His name is Ray Altman and while his blog is just up and coming as he discovers how best to utilize the blogging platform, I hope you will add him to your blog reading and come to see the Peace of Christ that I have come to see in him.

Check out Living Stones.

Here is a little blurb from his May 30th post:

"You see, God intends us to be dependent, needy, and ignorant because his plan is to provide us with everything we need.  Not that we would posses it for ourselves but that we might find it in him and thereby be in fellowship with him.  Dependence, neediness, and ignorance are only negative terms for those who have no provider, no lover and no teacher!  There was one person who had for himself all independence, who needed nothing at all from any creature, and who knew all things in heaven and earth.  He is the Messiah.  And yet in Jesus Christ we find one who chose to humble himself in the form of a slave."