In praise of small blogs

I did a silly thing yesterday. I posted a comment on a Big Blog. And not just a Big Blog in the world of Episcopal Church Big Blogs, but a BIG Blog. Not the biggest blog, but a Big Blog.

And I was the first comment on the blog, which is significant because quite often all of the discussion following stems from that first comment. As it did in this case.

It was a blog commenting on Iran and how the protesters were working from inside the narrative. And the comparison the blogger made was, "And this rhetorical strategy – working “within the narrative” – extends far beyond the streets of Tehran. For instance, I’ve always thought the best way to bring conservative Christians around to gay marriage (or young ones, anyway) is to ground the argument within Christianity – to work within the religious narrative."

My comment was along the lines of, "Believe me, those of us working within the narrative of Christianity will tell you it's not that easy." My point being the same may be true in Tehran as well, that working within the narrative is no panacea.

Well! The reactions to my comment truly surprised me. One legitimate critique was that my comment was very sweeping--fair enough. People then went on the presume I must live in a conservative diocese where this kind of dialogue is not easy. People also pointed out to me how obvious it is from the New Testament to argue in support of gay marriage.

The overall feeling I got from this was that "What you are experiencing is not true, and I will tell you what is true." It was a very odd feeling, them neither knowing nor asking. Believe me, these comments were mild, weren't critical of me or my person, were nothing in the overall scheme of things, but it was still a very strange experience.

And I very quickly became very grateful for my itty bitty blog. I don't have a thick enough skin for Big Blogginess. It was very strange for me personally to be the focus of all of this speculation even while I was right there. Trying to parse me. I wondered how many times I had done that to others while writing in real time on this blog or others. God forgive me, I don't know what I'm doing.

There are a lot more lessons in this I'm sure, but in the meantime, I appreciate writing about what I think in this tiny corner of the blogosphere.