Various surprising people over the last week have told me that they regularly read this blog; surprising simply because it had not occurred to me that they - you, and you probably know who you are - knew that it existed. One of the frustrations of not being able to manage comments is that our blog appears to live in a vacuum. (Despite my - admittedly not very skilled - best efforts, turning the comments on still eludes me. But our new website is due very soon, and then all will be different, I hope!!) And living in a vacuum is not a good place to be; indeed, I guess technically this image doesn't work, since nothing can live in a vacuum. Interaction is important, knowing how people read what is written, and the impact it has. And many of you have been very kind in your responses.
This need to interact is becoming important for us at the moment, especially as we think afresh about how we make contact with those who do not claim faith. We are grateful to those who have agreed to help us think about this, and there are all sorts of things to think through. And not the least is understanding people and the contexts in which they live and think. It is very easy, especially for those of us who have been part of the church for a long time, to forget that life and ways of understanding the world can be very different; generational differences, cultural differences, linguisitic differences and differences of ways of viewing the world - all of these matter as we try to find ways of communicating. If we are going to make connections, then it will have to be with people as they actually are, and not as we think they should be, nor as we know ourselves to be. I write this blog each (well, most) weeks about things that matter to me, in ways that make sense to me. I am grateful to those who make the effort to contact me - even when technically it is difficult. But it will be so much richer, so much more meaningful, once we can communicate.
And our commitment to communicate beyond our walls and beyond ourselves require even more determination to understand and make links, and to explore ways of communicating that may challenge how we see and think and expect; but which will be in line with the God who moved out of a safe and secure place into the risk and openess, identification and vulnerability of incarnation.