There are a couple of people I care about who are hurting.

Dan at Cerulean Sanctum is an encourager, someone who has a bit of the prophetic in him. He is empathic, extremely careful with words, and is not given to hyperbole. He tends to put others before himself, when most of us would just tell someone to go get stuffed. I don’t know that would cross Dan’s mind, if it did, it would come with a please.

He and his family have been hit by what Dan calls a tsunami. If you can offer comfort, go. It’s hard when one of the caregivers goes down.

This one is closer to home. Those of you who are regulars here at BDBO know Richard Hall at connexions has been a good friend for all the years I’ve blogged. I hang out there a lot, it’s like the United Nations, and a wonderful place for me online, I’ve learned more there than I could begin to expound on. That’s why this is personally troubling. In the years Richard has blogged, and shared his blog with many of us I have never seen another Methodist minister take a swipe at him.
This is not your normal type of online swipe either. Those of us that are not ministers really don’t understand the level of trust and respect needed from and between ministers to carry out their responsibilities. We might understand it somewhat when we think about fellow co-workers, but the trust needed for ministers goes way beyond what we think of in a job. Richard asks a couple of very important questions in a genuine plea.

So help me with this, please. Does my blogging here harm Christian mission in general or the Methodist Church in particular? I feel foolish asking the question, but if my blog is bringing the church into disrepute then I have a real problem.

Yes. He does.
The fellow minister who has made these accusations is a newbie blogger and a very busy guy. David Hallam is raising three teens, driving cab, pastoring, and working in public relations and communications. He is passionate about politics and social causes. The first time he linked up to connexions he experienced a spike in traffic. The fact he made some wrong assumptions didn’t seem like too big a deal, he corrected his mistakes and kept his opinions.
The term instalaunche is a good blogging word, and just about anyone with a blog knows the feeling.
This time David Hallam took a far more serious turn, and brushing this off is not going to make it go away.
Racism.

None of what he has levelled at Richard is really about Richard, but of course it is, isn’t it? That’s how communities work. Hallam has made some assumptions about connexions again, but this can’t be shrugged off as a new blogger looking for a traffic spike.
Racism charges are not a joke or an innocent mistake.
Never mind that Kim Fabricus who is a guest at connexions and a top notch theologian re-worked an old joke, none of us used to a vibrant international community would have thought twice about.

What David Hallam has accused Richard of is painful, has to be taken very seriously, and dealt with properly.
Correcting a new bloggers mistakes, or joking, is not going to take the sting away, or help Richard deal with the gravity of the accusations. I may have realized that too late.
David Hallam appears to be developing the habit of choosing not to respond. If you can say something helpful to Richard, please do.

The aching irony is if you dig a wee bit and find out what Mr. Hallam is talking about, you’ll see me behaving like a crazy person. I have never been that angry online - ever - over what I perceived as a commenter condoning a kind of racism - certainly prejudice. I could not let it go, and I don’t know that I can make it right. Bells can’t be unrung, there are no excuses, no reasons that cover or explain the level of verbal raging cluster bombs I unleashed on very innocent commenters on their way through.
Sin is sin, and it is very ugly.

This is funny/sad. The internet monk, a minister/english teacher; he of countless flame wars and the heavyweight champ of online spats, posted a lament. It is a splendid lament, Michael wrote in the first person, taking Psalm 32: 1-2. The sad part is most evangelicals are quite unfamiliar with the purpose or need of structured laments either corporately or in the private discipline of healthy faith.
So understandably, his readers rushed to response. He got comfort, amens, exhortation, explanations, answers and rebuke.
This is the funny: truth goes down best when it comes from a wag.
Someone moved by the lament, posted a response from the Old Testament (next door to the Psalms) and Jon ran with it. Nicely done Jon!

And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

Amen.

At least Job had seven days before he had to endure a bunch of bad and condescending advice. I don’t think iMonk will get that luxury.

Great post, Michael.