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July 14, 2005
I link therefore I am
There are real people out there. I had my first ever "real life" talk with someone from the blogosphere yesterday. Andy Jackson of Smart Christian phoned me on Skype. I've appreciated Andy's thoughtful approach to the links he gives, and the perspectives he shares. I was quite nervous initially about being phoned out of the blue by someone I've never met, and for whom I have a degree of regard. But it was a great blessing making contact and being able to talk and pray together. It also showed me the potential of stuff like Skype to help address something I wrote about here - the need for us as Christian bloggers to build community beyond the webpage. We have, through blogging, the privileged possibility of "meeting" people from around the world, and of different perspectives from ourselves. But it is a limited community if it doesn't move beyond commenting on each others' blogs. Good to talk to you, Andy.
Extremism: The danger of religious extremists from Richard White.
Conscientious objection: Rebekah at Through a mirror darkly has written this moving post about her Christian brother's experience as an interrogator in Abu Ghraib.
Store Wars: May the Farm be with you!
Posted by Keith at July 14, 2005 09:26 AM
Comments
Thanks for the link, Keith. I added an update, there's now a transcript of a portion of Josh's presentation on the Catholic Peace Fellowship website.
I've enjoyed looking around your site - I really appreciate your commitment to Africa and focus on justice issues. I just got back from Kenya so I'm soaking up all things Africa. I was only over there for 8 days but am already wanting to go back (hopefully for much longer and not just in the role of a short-term volunteer).
Posted by: Rebekah at July 14, 2005 03:41 PM
Hello Keith, thanks for your kind message. Last year I bought a headset to try out Skype but have not even got as far as opening the packaging. I would be interested to know more about your use of Skype. How did Andy know where/when to ring you, did you have to be online at the time ... I don't expect you to explain the whole deal but I would like to know if setting it up and learning how to use it takes up a lot of time, effort/energy and fiddling about. Maybe one day I could call you - when I know where and how!
Posted by: Ingrid at July 16, 2005 09:05 PM
In a similar vein, I've just been reflecting on how blogging can draw congregations into meaningful participation in planning church services ("I'm church, therefore I blog"). Thanks for the tip about Skype!
Posted by: Lawrence at July 18, 2005 09:22 PM
