POTF Blog Of The Week:Cyberbrethren’s Connecting The Dots

This week’s blog of the week has got to go to überblogger Rev. Paul McCain’s Connecting the Dots: Women’s Ordination and the ELCA’s Decisions about Homosexuality over at Cyberbrethren. While I agree with every point Rev. McCain makes concerning how we should deal with the ELCA’s recent decisions at its church wide assembly, it his opening paragraph that had me cheering:

It is painful to watch men and women I’ve come to know and love as brothers and sisters in Christ, in the ELCA, suffer through the agony of their church body crumbling down around them. If somebody wants to chastise me for calling them brothers and sisters in Christ, go ahead, but it changes nothing. They are. I am, frankly, sick to my stomach watching some of the ham-fisted, rude, obnoxious, boorish reactions to the ELCA decisions appearing on Lutheran blog sites and discussion groups, including ridicule and mockery in the form of songs. Must we Missourians go out of our way like this to confirm every worst suspicion of us, that we are a bunch of jerks? No. It is time for clarity with charity.

Rev. McCain isn’t the only one frustrated with sectors of the Lutheran blogosphere. I’ve been a bit discouraged myself, especially with people and sites that purport to teach and who hold themselves up as true heirs of the reformation. More and more frequently these sites I once enjoyed resort to personal attacks and allowing venomous commentary and remarks that will only serve to damage any effort to steer our beloved synod from the road so many have gone down in Americanized Christianity. Sadly some fail to see how their own words will be used against the very causes they so enthusiastically fight for.

Rev. McCain isn’t the only one getting sick to his stomach watching boorish behavior. I fail to understand how anyone thinks an opinion or view on a particular issue will be changed without even a semblance of civility. Watching folks not content to just tear people down using only their true names that they resort to signing in under numerous pseudonyms so as to pile on (because even though we say we don’t like counting heads, we sure do like making sure that there are plenty of non-people agreeing with us to prove our point don’t we?) at these same sites is confirmation that all too often we Missourians are jerks indeed.

Now before anyone asks “isn’t this the pot is calling the kettle black here?” maybe, but I’ve never once put myself on a pedestal or set myself above others as the place to go to learn how to do things the way true blue Lutheran’s are supposed to, I don’t defend my goofy ideas from silence, and yes I will delete a comment if the adjectives jackboot, thug or ilk are used. Ya know why? Because even a slack jawed layman understands civility and what it means to make attacks personal. Just so ya know.

Anyhoo, the rest of Rev. McCain’s post is as good as the opening paragraph and I strongly encourage everyone to give it a read and see what he means by connecting the dots. Thanks for the great post Rev. McCain!