Cyber-Savvy Pastor? Maybe Once Upon a Time

Back in 2006 I was interviewed by the Washington Post for an article, “Cyber-Savvy Pastors Blog When the Spirit Moves Them.” It brings a smile to my face to think there was a time when my blog was worthy of a mention in the Washington Post and that I was considered a cyber-savvy pastor.

Pastor Neil Craigan said he views his blog as a chance to get people thinking about faith daily, sometimes in untraditional ways. Entries on his blog, "Broken Bonds Loosed Chains: The Musings of a Devoted Follower of Jesus Christ," often include song lyrics from U2 or Bruce Springsteen. Craigan believes rock-and-roll songs raise questions for Christians to consider; he recently posted the lyrics of the U2 song "Grace" to prompt people to think about the role of God's grace in the world.

‘There is still something in our secular culture that recognizes the role of a spiritual leader,’ Craigan said. ‘I'm in a position to raise important questions, and blogging is a tremendous way to do that.’

I shut that blog down in 2010. I reached a point where I was no longer interested in dealing with the negative comments of people who thought they had God figured out. People, so sure and certain of their theological and ethical perspectives, who had no margin for dialogue or conversation. People who had such rigid frameworks for viewing the world that they took more delight in being right in their own eyes than they did in loving others. They loved to criticize and attack everything that challenged their perspective. I tired of being misunderstood, misrepresented, and attacked so I shut it down.

I realised I haven’t written anything here since June. I have not been writing as frequently as I had hoped.

I was asked today by a friend when I was going to write again. He said he missed my writing. I told him I was once again tired of writing in the public sphere. He told me my voice is important and that I need to write and provide a voice for those who don’t have the voice and the platform I have.

I wanted to say I use my voice every Sunday morning. Although that’s a fairly safe environment because after over 14 years at First Presbyterian there is a trust and a relationship with the people in the congregation. I also know there are much more articulate and thoughtful Christian voices out there. My friend assured me that my voice needs to be heard and he encouraged me to write more and advocate for others; to be a voice for God’s kingdom in this space; to promote the love of God for the world; to take a stand for justice, righteousness, and truth.

I’ll try to find time to write more. I may no longer be a “cyber-savvy pastor,” if I ever was one! But I’ll keep my presence here and advocate for the gospel. A gospel that, as Lesslie Newbigin stated, we have, “often confused culturally conditioned perceptions with the substance of the gospel, and thus wrongfully claimed divine authority for the relativities of one culture.” He would go on to say, “Conservative evangelicals, were often unaware of the cultural conditioning of their religion and therefore guilty, as many now recognize, of confusing the gospel with the values of the American way of life without realizing what they were doing.”

My writing is intended to push us to reflect and think about how we can better live as God’s image bearers in this world as we seek to be “transformed by the renewing of [our] mind[s]” (Rom.12:2).