Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Whither The Mad Padre Blog?

This cartoon sums up how I've been feeling about what I've come to think of "the God Blog" of late. There are times when I feel like the vast majority of people visiting the blog are spammers or their sinister robotic minions. That feeling was reinforced for a while wen I had enabled email notifications of posted comments, which all seemed to boil down to viagra, porn, or cheap designer handbags. That depressing onslaught, plus a variety of time pressures, sketchy internet access, old computer issues, and frankly a certain amount of lethargy have conspired to make me want to chuck it and shut it down and just focus on my wargaming blog, which, frankly, can be more fun and more interactive.

When I am tempted to give in to this sentiment, I think of two emails I received late last year from readers of this blog. In a conversation with one reader, I was being rather whiny and complaining that this blog didn't seem to be having much of an impact. I got this back:"

Mike, to be fair - the God blog is never going to attract a huge number of hits. However, it does bring your sermons to a potential wider audience and I think that's important. Any fool can write with conviction, but you write with wit and fluency and power and that is too rare a thing to hide under a bushel.

"

You're always going to have to write sermons and I think the discipline of putting them up online forces you to do a good job because while the congregation may forget, the Internet is forever."

I needed to hear that. The rationale for this blog has always been, at least in part, homiletic. The "Padre" part of the title has always been my acknowledging that I am an Anglican priest, called to preach the good news of Christ. Over the last five years, the blog has allowed me to share messages and sermons, usually fleeting and ephemeral things given in small chapels, with a wider audience. Some Mad Padre readers have told me that they can't or don't attend worship, and find it helpful to read the sermons I post here. Preachers are often vain, egotistical beings, and I need to remind myself that it's not about me. Karl Barth taught that the preacher is one who simply points away from himself to the cross. Smart chap, that Barth. Non nobis domine, and all that.

The other bits included in the "Padre" part of the title reflect my profession as a military chaplain, my take on the military ethos and ethics, and related issues. The "Mad" part of the title has been a signal that I try to take all of the above with a healthy sense of humour. Most people regard Christians in general and clergy in particular as dour, cheerless individuals, whereas I have always found that being slightly mad in a good way allows relationships to start and dispells stereotypes. So that explains the bits about goats, cartoons, etc. Besides, "Mad Padre" is fun to say. However, even that motivation flags on occasion. Another reader sent me this comment at a time when I needed to hear it.

Thanks so much for your blogs, which I have really enjoyed. I very much like your wargaming blog but your other non-wargaming blog has been a real treasure trove of thought provoking material, stunning shots of the Canadian prairie and country and some super shots of regimental goats!

So whither Mad Padre? (I like saying the word "whither"). I will, as my British Army friends say, stag on. 2013 looks like an interesting year professionally, with a posting, a return to graduate school on the Army's dime to think about religion and culture, an increasingly complex military and geopolitical environment to think about, so that will all be on the agenda, with, I hope, a greater frequency of posts. And yes, there will be goats. So to you, whoever you are, visiting this blog for whatever reason, my thanks and blessings.

8 comments:

James said...

Keep the faith Mike.
I enjoy your writing here as much as your gaming blog.
Plus, Grad School and discussions in the Student lounge will, I'm sure, inspire quite a few thought provoking posts!

Chris Stoesen said...

There are tons of trolls out there. I would say the overwhelming response on my blog is just junk as you were describing. As long as you are filtering it out, press on. Your thoughts are always worth a read.

Anibal Invictus said...

Dear Mike, as you probabky know by now I'm not a reliegious person at all, but believe me that I would be very disappointing if you shut down the blog. I really like reading your posts and the wya you express yourself and your opinions are a breath pof fresh air and provides a complete different angle on religion and how to live your beliefs.


In addition, you provide a lot of colour about what's going on in your country and your neighbouring USA, which is a plus+++ for me.

And all this is specially true for a Spaniard, who lives in a country where the Catholic Church seems to be anchored in the mid XIX century and totally detached from the social (and economic) reality of the country.

Keep on coming those posts!!
Best
B

Colonel Scipio said...

I assure you I'm not a robot my dear padre ... I know how much time running a blog takes and so running two must be ... I don't know, four times as hard. Someone correct my maths. I'd shudder if I were to ask you not to shut it down, if it's too much then it's too much, that's your decision.

But maybe it would help if I said I was a regular reader, although I probably don't comment as much as I should. At the end of the day, although I always love tuning in to the wargaming blog and seeing the pics (as well as running my own one), this is probably the most important blog out there in the 'biggest' sense of the word.

It's strength isn't counted in hits or followers, so if it does keep going I will be a regular - if quiet - reader. Stag on, my friend :)

Grenzer John said...

Hang in there, Padre. We'll never know if we do any good, or what good we'll do. As with all prophets, we're called to proclaim, even if we don't see results... or collect spam. I'd bet Ezekiel did... and Francis of Assisi.

Katrina, Sunday School Blogger said...

I know exactly how you feel. I've been feeling the same way about my own blog lately, and it's incredibly discouraging. But I push you to keep on keeping on, because I know that tons of your readers (including me) are here for the right reasons: to learn from what you have to say. So please keep writing!

joe5mc said...

Here's one real reader who certainly enjoys popping by from time to time!

Sidney Roundwood said...

Hi Mike....another non-Robot blogger here! If anyone had mentioned to me that I'd be a very keen follower of a blog written by a padre on religious, social and quirky life-related themes (regimental goats again) a year or so back, I'd have thought they were having a laugh.

Taking the kids to Sunday School and listening to the sermons at my local church is (I confess) often enough sermonising for me for a month, let alone a week. So I don't know how on earth you've managed to get me reading yours online - but you have!!!!

Keep up the blog, please Mike. On a serious note, your blogged item on the ethics of drone warfare got me reading and thinking a lot about the ethics and legal issues around targeted-killing. Your links to the fascinating and moving radio programme on the appalling Sandy Hook School massacre was a great find - I'd never have come across that otherwise. Put simply, I like the links you post, and your photos.

There - see, you should keep going…..with or without (but please with) the regimental goats.

Mad Padre

Mad Padre
Opinions expressed within are in no way the responsibility of anyone's employers or facilitating agencies and should by rights be taken as nothing more than one person's notional musings, attempted witticisms, and prayerful posturings.

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