I am surprised that I am doing this. My initial reaction to blogs was to balk at the casual, not well thought out nature of blogging. It felt like someone was posting their private journal, with all its ramblings and half baked ideas, to the world. Why would someone do that? Get your thoughts more together before you present them for crying out loud.

But I am starting to look at blogging differently. And it has a lot to do with a growing awareness of how challenging it is to understand and present Biblical truth with all of its facets, depth and breadth. Maybe there is an important place for blogging in the pursuit of  theological understanding precisely because it is half baked ideas. 

There is something genuine and freeing with a medium that is about half baked ideas rather than well thought out and presented “truth”. As a pastor preparing a sermon, I put a lot of effort into presenting a clear message of truth about a passage or a topic. But as I was doing that, I was often aware that I was presenting a clearer picture than I actually had. There were confusing elements and baffling aspects to Scriptural passages  that I left out of the message. People do not want to come away from a Sunday sermon feeling like Scripture is confusing. It was my task to make it as clear as I could. But the clarity I was able to present did not take into account all of the thoughts or elements of the Biblical truth and I was aware of that. As I tried to grasp Biblical truth, I always felt like I had learned a lot, but there was more I could sense was beyond my grasp.

So, in a sense, even my best theology might be better characterized as a half baked idea than an arrival at the truth. There was always more to learn and develop an understanding of. Blogging is a medium for those confusing and baffling aspects of trying to understand life through the lens of Biblical truth. Rather than leaving those aspects out, like with a sermon, it is about presenting half baked ideas and inviting others into conversation to go deeper and gain more understanding. It is freeing because there is not the pressure to be clear and correct in the communication. You can put down thoughts that you would discard later, communicate in ways that you realize are not as clear as you would like them to be.

The public nature of these private journal type thoughts is an expression of the need for community (the thoughts, insights and questions of others) to grow in theological understanding. It is not enough to wrestle in the privacy of my journal or even in a devotional time with the Lord. I need to interact with others with their different life experiences and personalities. 

So I am seeking people to wrestle with these thoughts with me. But I am not looking for an online conversation via public comments or chat. If something I write sparks a question or insight for you, lets communicate about that. I would like a conversation. If you are in the DMV, let’s go for a walk. If that will not work, let’s schedule a Zoom call. You can set a time to connect by clicking here.