Anglican Bloggers

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Dave Walker over at Cartoon Church, has started a Facebook group called Anglican Bloggers.

A group for people who blog about Anglican goings-on. Also the people who comment on the blogs about Anglican goings-on. Also Anglicans who blog, but not about Anglican goings-on. Also those who have no idea what is going on, but want to join in.

This is a group for those who blog from the right hand pews, those who blog from the left hand pews and those who find themselves blogging in the central aisle where they might be struck down by a hymnbook from either side or be run down by the procession. Everyone is welcome.

I hadn’t planned this to be a place for in-depth debate, as there are lots of those out there anyway. But it might become a place to connect with the people behind the websites. Who knows, we might discover we’re all human after all. And where the bloggers lead the bishops follow. Or something.

It caused me to do a number of things, which included.

First, join up.

Second, decide (finally and after much dithering) to find a photo to go on my Facebook page. I can't be a question mark any longer.

Dave's cartoon reminded me of the moment when, in the middle of General Convention in Columbus in 2006, a bunch of us who posted regularly on the House of Bishops & Deputies listserv came together, met face to face and prayed. We wore pins that read "I poured out my soul on HOB/D and all I got was this lousy pin."

Mark Harris said:

The really big sites Thinking Anglicans and more recently The Episcopal Cafe are run by communicators who actually know what they are doing and provide amazing resources for us all. They have been willing to draw out of us all a greater degree of responsible journalistic behavior than we might otherwise have exhibited. They have done so while at the same time acknowledging occasionally the work done by many of us. It has always been a good day when TA or the Cafe acknowledges a bit of our work "above the fold." It is also wonderful to get a note of thanks, praise, or even constructive criticism from progressive friends whose blogs I admire greatly.

Then there the times when an act of kindness from someone across the divide kind of makes me believe that all this Christian stuff has sunk into us more than I might otherwise have believed. Just about the time that I am ready to cut the electronic tendrils that connect me to Kendall Harmon and his elves, or Brad Drell, or Baby Blue, or Stand Firm, one of them will post something that is startlingly graceful or beautiful, and suddenly the snarky falls away and the little child filled with wonder emerges - both in them and me.

Dave Walker believes this community of bloggers might actually form a circle that dances over the pit of division and gives some hint of a promised land where Anglican will not be synonymous with crabby divisiveness but a peace of God that passes all understanding.

It may be that this cartoon and the motivation behind it will go down as a parallel to believing in the Easter Rabbit (after all Dave is a bit of a strange fellow) but I think not. Rather it signals a hope that the intricate weaving of the web of bloggers and their sharing will more and more reflect the weaving of the web that constitutes Anglicanism at its best.

Father Jake said:

Well, I don't know about "love," but personally I have recently developed a certain amount of grudging respect for some of those in the Blogiverse with whom I strongly disagree.

But, what the heck, since it is the season of hope and all of that other good stuff, and Mark is rather optimistic about this venture, why not pretend like Dave's hope might just become a reality?

BabyBlueOnLine said:

Right, so I was going to put up "You got a friend" by James Taylor, then I was going to put up "Hey Jude," by the Beatles, and then I thought about "What the World Needs Now," by Dionne Warwick - and then I heard this and thought of Greg and Jake - and then Sarah, Lisa, Matt, Doug, Mark, Kevin, George, Elizabeth, Kendall, Susan R., Simon, Ruth, the Elves, Louie, Chris, Andrew, Susan S., Christopher, Pat, Brad, Jackie, David, Chip, Jim, Jan, and the Mighty IRD and that was that. Rock on, brothers and sisters. This is going to be the year.

Rock on, indeed.