Another Sunday Morning

This weblog has provided a sense of "having someone to talk to",  whether or not I actually see referrers in my list or comments on my entries.   There is the awareness that some have subscribed and "watch" what I'm saying,  and so therefore I have some sense that there is a support-group of sorts,  which far surpasses what I have sensed from my ftf gatherings in the past few years.  But I continue to hope that out of this "down period" ----- this "slump" in the experience of a vital ftf community life,  that something will break through --- but also aware that I need to be more proactive.   There seems to be a cycle of discouragement that happens every Sunday morning as I have more hope in coming to the Weblog and writing than I do in going out and visting a new church and come away shaking my head about something that was said or things I read in their bulletin or newsletter.  If there were only some way to "search" for kindred Churches on Google or something --- there probablyis but it is not an easy thing to filter through or use effective search terms.  

It seems that I turn to my Weblog on a majority of Sunday mornings.  Many of those mornings I am quite cognizant of the absence of a ftf place to be -  a place to BE and a place to BE KNOWN,  and, for me, a place to reflect and gather ingredients to build a Church Website that communicates something of who we are.   And the Web will be evolving so that the "Website" becomes more of a "Web Service" that not only serves up Web pages and makes information and interaction available from home and office PCs,  but provide information and interaction opportunities to mobile participants,  and grow a "Smart Mob" within the community of the committed.   I am still searching for a good term for this as it relates to the Church.  "Smart Church Mob" is too obvious and the word "Mob" is not quite what would appeal to the Church community.   "Connected" or some related word seems to be moving in the right direction. 

If only Churches could be convinced of the value of doing Weblogs and other "peronal and communal journey" highlighting of their missions and their members.   It would provide some hits to "Internet seekers" who wish to find some community in which their deepest interests;  that place from which CALL springs forth,  can be supported,  encouraged,  and energized.  I could ,  for instance,  find entries that express the deep influence on me of the Church of the Saviour,  so that I might find where others are in my area who carry with them the hope that we can provide some of that support to one another that is so abundant in the stories and experiences we have had from that community which has been a model for us.   We could find testimony and stories of work in a particular kind of mission that would make use of our own gifts and interests,   and go there and seek them out with some of the introductory personal homework already done,  and give us a point of introduction to a person or a group who we already know and share some commonly held theology and passions. 

It seems to me that this heightens the value of gatherings,  because we have previously celebrated the common ground that is all too often absent from gatherings in hurches where precious little is done to do the required personal work of truly shaing in eachother's journeys and knowing one another so that true support can happen;  support far beyond the notion that we are "one in Christ".   This is certainly true,  but the real impact of this is known in the living out of this reality in mutual accountability and devoting ourseleves to knowing each other.      

© Copyright 2003 Dale Lature. Last update: 9/23/2003; 3:36:55 PM.