The Journey Online

The challenge of any helping role is that most of the work you do is invisible. This is the case for pastors, whose jobs involve confidential counselling, mentoring, and simply coming alongside. I remember in my early days as a student pastor having to put up with comments like "nice job, only having to work one day a week." I kept thinking that a regular 9-5 job sounded so nice! So how does one share the fullness of pastoral life without appearing to be an attention seeker?

A friend at the Archdiocese of Ottawa office recently told me about Archbishop Terrence Prendergast's blog "the Journey of a Bishop." Posting nearly everyday, he chronicles events in the life of the church, both local and international. He shares prayers, pastoral thoughts and photos of special events. I understand that even the office staff find it a great source of information about the goings on of the church and the Archbishop. It the counter is accurate, he has had nearly 300,000 visits to his blog since January 2009.

The first thing that strikes me is the man is busy! Obviously there is much more he does than is depicted here, but this is a good outline of public activities. The next thing that strikes me is that this opens a window to the life of the church. This isn't text written by a PR firm, or photos air brushed by marketing. But if I was ever curious what does an Archbishop does, here is a good place to start.

Many pastors have blogs, feeds and websites. Some are current news, some are ancient history. It takes time and effort to blog, and I know pastors who feel there time could be better spent. Pastor John Piper has made a strong argument for pastors blogging, among them interacting, and being known. Interacting is important, and perhaps a weakness of "The Journey of a Bishop" is that it remains one way communication, although I have no way of knowing how many comments and questions are sent. I am just not part of the dialogue. Recently ChurchMag had an interesting post about using Church social media. How do you use social media to create conversations? Ask questions. Scary when you are on the web.

Piper's comment about being known also caught my attention. Piper writes,
"Your people hear you teach a lot; it’s probably the main way that most of them know you. You preach on Sundays, teach on Wednesdays, give messages at weddings, funerals, youth events, retreats, etc. This is good—it’s your job. But it’s not all you are....your people need some access to you as a person. A blog is one way to help them."

This is powerful. I find that much of the religious blogging I encounter is, well frankly, evangelistic and somewhat contrived. You rarely meet the person behind the scripture verses or sermon notes.

Lots to chew on. What is your favourite personal blog? What draws you back to it?

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Eulogy for a bookstore and a short rant

On December 31, 2011 the Baptist Bookroom will close after fifty years serving the needs of the Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches. It was likely inevitable; the brick storefront model is passing away. I have ordered a few items online from them, but as it is a province away I never visited in person. I took a few minutes to write and ask the folks at the Convention office "So what's next?" Yes, this business model has failed, but the need for good Christian educational materials remain. Yes, there are good online sources like CBD or directly from trusted publishers. But do our parishioners know who are the trusted publishers? Are they current with what resources are available to meet their particular need?

That I think is the greatest loss when the local bookstores close; we lose the local expertise. I think most churches hope their clergy can provide those insights but the reality is that these aren't skills they teach you in seminary. Reader's advisory services are also offered in libraries, and if your religious group has a local seminary/college you might be able to get some assistance there. Most parishioners are on their own; my own research suggests that if they have been given enough rooting in their own groups beliefs they will muddle through. Regrettably many have only a passing acquaintance with the beliefs of their religious group.

Though not surprising, another bookstore closing is sad. But what is sadder still is that there seems to be no plan for what's next. The information age is upon; time to have a strategy.

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Here comes the bride...and the ipad?

I've argued that technology is subtly changing how people practice their faith. Even familiar rituals get transformed. Sometime ago I shared an example of a wedding procession that became a viral video hit. OK, that was good but this is better: the Huffington Post posted a story about Renee the bridesmaid who couldn't travel to the wedding so...she joined by ipad via Apple's video app facetime.



Webcams are ok to watch, laptops are bulky, but the ipad was just right. I recently attended a work meeting by ipad. I sat at one side of the table and could see and hear and participate. But is it ok to be part of a wedding virtually? What is it like to be groomsman? Can you actually sign the register as an official witness if you weren't really there? If it is ok for the bridal party, what about the bride and groom? What happens if your battery dies?

Oh well, congratulations Jamie and Jonathon! May you have many happy years together!

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When its personal...

Sometimes research can get personal. It happens when you find yourself joining your subjects under the microscope. At the recent CAIS conference I presented a paper entitled "Beyond Belief: Prayer as Communication in Information Seeking." I'll write about that later this week. It was a positive experience and I received lots of excellent feedback.

When you study peoples' lives, it is difficult to remain detached. The researcher balances the objective ("etic") viewpoint, and the "insider's" ("emic") perspective. When I study another culture, it is easier to keep my distance; when I study my own, I bring deeper insight but also my personal beliefs. In this paper I examined prayer as an information scientist. But I am a scientist who prays, and believes in prayer. I am prepared to accept critique of my research; my methods and my conclusions. But when someone questions my research subjects' belief in the reality of prayer it unsettles me. I share many of their beliefs. My faith is part of my identity.

I thought more about the challenges that some researchers face; those who regularly engage topics related to identity such as ethnicity, gender and belief. Engaging with your research; engaging with yourself. In public, and under the microscope. CAIS is a safe venue; I've been to conferences that weren't as civil. Yet some researchers regularly place themselves out there.

There is a balance to find here. I cannot become self-indulgent, lest my research really become only about me. I know researchers who have fallen into that trap. But we cannot be afraid to be personally engaged in our research either. There are of course safer topics to study.

In honour of the end of the Harry Potter franchise, here is a good professor scrap.

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