Facebook became a better place to dwell, but even that world is more artificial avatar than authentic expression, a world that lends itself to using phrases like "artificial avatar." (Oh brother.)
But the urge to write and stay connected with a broader group of people is sometimes overwhelming. And yet, if it is too personal it comes across as nothing more than a continuum with poles of confession and narcissism.
What I'd rather do is make this more a reflection of ministry and Christian leadership, whereby again I attempt to empty the pulpit of my own eccentricities in exchange for what God is up to in the 21st century church.
My instinct is to go back to the beginning--at least my beginning--and read through Henri Nouwen's book, In the Name of Jesus. This will be my sixth time to read this book, the first book I read when I started training for ministry 20 years ago this year.
Nouwen's story begins when he gave up teaching at prestigious universities and divinity schools in order to simply his life and ministry. The key was to simplify. Simplify himself. Simplify church. Simplify those around him. That's why in the prologue, Nouwen begins with this:
"I also came to see that I should not worry about tomorrow, next week, next year, or the next century. The more willing I was to look honestly at what I was thinking and saying and doing now, the more easily I would come into touch with the movement of God's Spirit in me, leading me to the future."
I have always been bad about dwelling on what comes next. The last few years have been better, to be sure. But the Gospel seems more concerned with one thing: Do we have ears to hear and eyes to see God today?
