I used to think blogging was stupid. Who would want to read some random person’s thoughts? Why would I want to read what is essentially an online journal?
This was my opinion about blogging until I created a blog for our church’s “Theology on Tap” group and wrote my first post. Last October, I returned home to see the sun setting on the row houses behind our own. The trees and the rooftops looked as if they were on fire. I was so struck by the beauty that I grabbed my camera and found myself writing about the experience on the newly created blog. I wrote about a moment that stopped me short and pulled me out of my busy life. I wrote what I was thinking and feeling and pushed “publish.” From that moment on, I was hooked on this crazy thing called blogging. I soon created a personal blog and celebrated my first blogiversary on October 26.
What brought about this change of heart? For me, blogging is about two things. It is about community and the discipline of taking notice.
Within a month of creating my own blog, I joined the RevGalBlogPals, an online community of “women discerning or pursuing a Christian vocation and their friends” that boasts a membership of more than 300 — https://revgalblogpals.blogspot.com/ .
Through the RevGalBlogPals, I was introduced to other women in ministry. I began to read and comment on their blogs. They read and commented on mine. Before long I had developed connections with women clergy as far away as Wisconsin and as close as Elizabethtown, Pa. We RevGals write about our frustrations in ministry, our joys, the strange things that happen in worship (including bats in the sanctuary and broken high-heeled shoes), sermons, children who keep us on our toes, and the minutia of everyday life. In our community, there is always someone willing to commiserate over a sermon that is difficult to write or celebrate the perfect pair of shoes.
While this may not sound like interesting reading, it is part of the gift of blogging. In the past year, I have also learned to take notice. Through the discipline of blogging, I have learned to pay attention to the details of my life. I have learned to look for God’s presence in everyday, mundane events. I now think, “That will blog!” meaning that the event, conversation, or image will somehow end up as a blog post. In the spiritual discipline of Examen, Ignatius teaches the importance of reflecting on our day, looking for the behaviors that need to be confessed and the ways in which God was present. For me, blogging is a form of Examen. It has taught me to pay attention and to appreciate the fact that God is indeed present in all of life.
Kelly Wiant-Thralls is associate pastor of Market Square Church in Harrisburg, Pa.
