My Wonderings

A friend of mine is a small business owner; she designs and creates jewelry, mostly spiritual. It is more than just a “job” that produces income, it is her vocation. She is an artist and her art/work reflects her spiritual life. She asked me recently if she should start a blog. She is very busy and doesn’t have time for another “hobby” or a burdensome commitment that doesn’t have substantial personal or economic benefit. And she already writes about faith and art so she doesn’t need to blog for the purpose of a spiritual discipline. So, how shall I answer her? First, I would say she needs to spend time listening online to see what others are saying about the art of religious jewelry. Are there any good examples of jewelry artists who are finding blogs as a means toward profit? I suggest she go to http://technorati.com/ the “mother lode” of blog directories.

First, she should check out her own name and company and see if anyone is talking about her. If so, I’d say she has the only reason she needs right there to begin blogging. If people are talking about you, you want to be in that conversation! She should also search for her products and her competitors. Then, she needs to search keywords for her industry (”jewelry,” “artist,” “religious” no quotes) and see if there are other business owners/artist blogging about that niche. She will find an extensive list to search through since Technorati currently searches through 22 million sites and over a billion links. But she can narrow her search by only sorting those with “a lot of authority.” High authority (like a “grade” given by Technorati) means the site is very popular. I didn’t find anything when I searched using these three tags: jewelry artist religious and clicked it to narrow the search to “with a lot of authority” (opportunity, Nancy!) So I took off “religious” and searched “with any authority.” I found three appealing blogs right off the bat, at the very top of the list. They weren’t high on the list because of their authority rank; they were listed on top because these three writers had recently published posts. Tip: fresh content is uber important!

Let’s check them out and see what we think: First up is Make Me, a blog at blog.simonewalsh.com. Immediately, I feel attracted to Simone and her weblog because her latest post is filled with bright colorful pictures of the flowerbed in her front yard and I usually like people who garden. Then I am surprised to see she’s from Australia and I think “Holy Dooley! What’s that sheila from down under doing trying to make a quid right here in my living room? Good onya!” Scanning just a bit more I find out I also like her jewelry, just not as much as my friend’s! Next, I check out http://www.roseofsharonjewelry.com/blog/ because the title of her blog is fantastic. But upon clicking, I’m almost knocked over by how “lavender” everything is and I imagine her to be old and passe  and smell of moth balls. I’m not encouraged when I see she’s talking about broken ankles and sprained body parts in her first post. but I have to smile when I read further on and she tells herself to give up the roller derby. That’s my kind of sense of humor so I decide to scroll down a bit more.  But, oh my(!) … her jewelry, like her lavender and lacey web design is too fussy for my taste. I take my exit and go to my third site The Magpie’s Treasure and once again, I find myself drawn to the artist/business owner because of her most recent post.  The artist, Jodi, tells us she’s listening to an audio book of Sue Monk Kidd on her IPod while she works in her studio and I heart Sue Monk Kidd! Jodi and I have a lot in common, I imagine. Her previous post has a picture of her sketches and she describes a bit of her creative process.

This is very fascinating but I’ve run out of time and I can’t even check out her jewelry. But I see she has lots of other social media accounts so I assume she must be very friendly and amenable. I click on her RSS feed button because I know I won’t remember to go back and check out her blog so I’ll let her RSS bring her blog to my Google Reader every time she updates! Great; good session I’ve imagined having with my friend.  But before she leaves the Technorati site, I’d also she suggest she search my blog: sarahgbennett.com/MyWonderings and click that little heart icon that says favorite it! if for no other reason than out of pity that my blog has such low authority. Favoriting will help increase my authority at Technorati. And, btw, I have substantially helped out the authority status of Simone, Sharon and Jodi because I have given them unreciprocated ”inbound links” in this blog — that’s very valuable currency in the blogosphere! I would so be your BFF if you ever gave me some link love.

If I were F2F (that’s ‘face-to-face, Mom!) with my artist friend, we’d probably take a latte break right now because I’m feeling all warm and fuzzy in friendship fever. Then I’d suggest she continue to look for possible competitors friends by doing the same type of searches at http://blogsearch.google.com/ and http://search.twitter.com. While I was surfing to see other “must search” sites, I came across this article in the Search Engine Journal and I started feeling guilty that I have neglected my own blog so much! She should probably check out this list, too; I know I am. Anyway, back to Nancy, that’s my artist friend. Nancy and I met too many years ago to politely admit (I think we staffed a Happening together) but then lost touch when I lost touch with … well, anyway. We recently reconnected on Facebook and have developed a very nice, significant relationship.

If I were in the market for a piece of a religious jewelry, prior to this reconnection, I probably would have headed over to one of the malls in Austin and grabbed something from James Avery. I wouldn’t have even thought of Nancy because I didn’t have her in my brain’s RAM. But now, because of our social networking, I wouldn’t consider going to another jeweler.  Because unlike generic jewelry, religious jewelry is bought to be an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. To have the opportunity to add an even richer level of  meaning to that investment by actually knowing the artist and knowing what she was thinking while she was creating it — well, that would make the piece even more precious than I could have imagined. And that, at the end of the day, is why I think Nancy should have a blog, for the personal connection; to connect to people online like she has me.

In today’s market, one needs to be online. One needs to have a personal brand and a business brand online and needs to engage in online conversations. I think the extraordinary personal nature that is now so popular with social media sites is due, in part, to society’s knee-jerk reaction to the business ethos of the previous decades. As the Mom and Pop Shops got run out of business, the commercial world became so “professional” and starched. It became distant, impersonal and corporate. Any concern over market aloofness was exacerbated as more and more of the marketplace disappeared into cyberspace. You couldn’t even talk to a person on the phone; it was all automated! But recently, the internet has moved into a second stage of life, called “2.0,” and smart technology tools are enabling easy and comfortable conversations (many in real-time) for those of us who aren’t that technologically smart.  And that is changing expectations. We expect to see the human face of the marketplace because we can! Many, many people are slow to see the tectonic shift that is occurring. And that is to Nancy’s advantage. Because the early adopter gets the worm. Fortunately, there are some who have already adopted this new media way; so there are many people out there on whom to “eavesdrop.”  We need to lurk around these sites. We need to hear what’s being said, and read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest what others are doing so right.

Oh, by the way, don’t tell my mother how rude I was not to introduce Nancy to you properly at the very beginning of our conversation. Everyone, this is Nancy. This is her Facebook Page. Let me get Nancy to tell us about her work and (I copied it off her Facebook Page info):

I am an artist with a primary interest in creating jewelry to help the wearer communicate the love of God. I received a BFA with a specialization in Jewelry and Metalsmithing, from the University of Houston in 1976. I started my own business in 1980 and have since been designing and crafting jewelry as a full time vocation. I mainly work in precious metals, sterling, and 14K gold and often incorporate gemstones. I am a one person business. “I am the company and the company is me!”

In the late 80’s, after hearing a stewardship sermon, I felt called to communicate the love of God through my jewelry work. I understood it to be my responsibility, as a good steward of my artistic gifts, to create a body of work for the Glory of God. Through the years, I have continued to add to that original body of work, which is now over 60 designs strong. My ministry is sharing the love and glory of God through my design work, offering the wearer a “love story” to visibly wear and verbally share.

I also make many other things besides fine jewelry. I create jewelry beads, wall and hand crosses with polymer clay. One of my newer creative expressions is knitting scarves and belts (not yet on the website) (sarah’s edit: because it got uploaded a few days ago!). I consider my fine jewelry making my 40 hour work week and the rest is fun art therapy to keep my creative juices flowing and fresh. All my extra avenues of creative expression seem to be an endless play and experimentation with color and texture.

Don’t you just love her? I knew you would. And I’m so glad you got to know her today! Come back anytime and meet some other friends of mine. Oh, and by the way, see that RSS feed button up at the top right? Click it and I’ll bring my blog to your reader in case you forget to check in for a while. If you don’t know what a reader is, I’ll tell you in another post. In the meantime, see that email form right below the RSS feed? Fill out your email and I’ll send you my blog updates right to your inbox! Love chatting with you all and I really enjoyed the latte!

Recently, a facebook friend sent me a funny blog post, Needing Some Closure, about a contest for the “holiest” email closing. Rather than ending with a secular “Sincerely,” they use In Him or Because of His Grace or one novel notation used In His Grip. The post cracked me up; in part because I get annoyed by these public service announcements. But another part of me laughed because,  back when I was pretty green-under-the-collar, I really used to worry about how I should sign my notes! I didn’t want to come across as overly pious but I also didn’t want to offend the overly pious by not being very pious. And then there was the whole plus sign problem. Sometimes I saw it in front of people’s names, sometimes, after. I wonder how many times I did it wrong before it was pointed out to me that Bishops put the + in front of their names and the rest of us clergy add our addition at the end. Anyway, to make a very short story long, all this is to lead up to my point (and I’m sure you’ve all followed my logical train of thought that led me here): there should be rules for the religious on Facebook.  I couldn’t find a list on Google, so I decided to create my own. Feel free to add, amend or delete as you see fit.

1. Script Your Scripture: Don’t post random, stand-alone scripture verses as status updates. If you have a personal response to a scripture verse, then by all means, share it. If its true what they say that “Content is King” in social media, then “Content in Context is King of Kings,” brothers and sisters!
2. Shade Your Sonshine: Gratitude is great; but too much of it, all the time,  just comes across as fake and disingenuous. Some of you might want to pepper your updates with a “Golly gee, I’m sure struggling to find an attitude of gratitude after I was mugged and abducted by aliens.”
3. Lay Off the Lament: Don’t go to the other extreme and be a Whiny Baby either. I love Eeyore, but I don’t want him as my facebook friend.
4. Police Your Piece: If you’re going to represent the Supreme Representer, you might want to consider being political correct. I know a lot of people think they are Truth-Telling when they bash the concept of p.c., but really, its a matter of being sensitive to others’ feelings, not ignoring reality.
5. Mute the Mic: Speaking of politics; there’s a lot of it on Facebook. Sometimes I’d like my very political friends to get off their soapboxes just long enough to tell me something else that’s going on in their life. The same can be said for my religious friends. Every once in a while, post something sordidly secular.
6. Fav Your Flock: If you’re clergy, don’t post that you don’t have time for Facebook. Because that’s the same as saying you don’t have time for the people in your church that are on Facebook. Besides, you sound like you’re way more important than we know you to be.
7. Halt the Haughty: You don’t have to spend a lot of time on Facebook and no one expects you to read everyone’s updates. But its nice, its polite, and it just may be the exercise in humility that you need, to comment every so often on someone else’s posts. Listening can be your friend.
8. Cheer Your Child: Do LOL. I’m not saying you have to LMAO (or LYAO) or other extreme bursts of humor. But many religious folk tend to take themselves way too seriously. Lighten up! Enjoy a bit of silly and playful and Will Ferrell.
9. Face Your Facts: Use a real picture of yourself. Fill out a full profile, favorite books, movies, and all. Share yourself! That’s the point.
10. Hug the Humanity: Just be yourself. Accept your human condition. And don’t worry so much what others will think of you. It’s not like there’s anyone’s passing judgment and creating a set of rules!

What have I missed? What annoys you about the really religious on Facebook? Have you got any good examples of over-the-top status updates? No names, please, let’s protect the innocent (those in their faith community!).

On the Wings of He Who Soars Above and Takes Me Along For the Ride,

Sarah(plus)

p.s. Please don’t assume that my general criticism of others is, in any way, shape, or form, an invitation to criticize my own, delightful and charming status updates.

The healthcare debate is loud and earnest. As it should be. We are talking about very fundamental, elementary issues of living together in community. We are continuing the national discernment process begun in the 18^th century of establishing what it means to say that our Creator endowed all hu(man)s with certain unalienable rights. Among those, our declarators determined, were life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The framers assumed every reasonable person would agree with these given presuppositions. But the conclusion that followed as been anything but self-evident. We have a hard time reaching consensus with the practice of this reasonable theoretical assumption.  All that seems self-evident to me is the premise that there is some correlation between one’s religious beliefs and political values and that there are some level of human rights that ought to be non-negotiable.

Bringing theory to practice has been the stuff of American politics and it is the stuff of the current debate. But the debate has turned ugly and shrill and out of order. I’m wondering if we’re all on the same page of the hymn book. Maybe the set of assumptions that begin my logic is not where others are beginning.   Maybe we’re not talking about the same thing. Because some people seem to be incredulous and shocked that I could have reached the conclusion that our country should have a national health plan. It’s as though this conclusion was somehow, un-American or un-godly or un-reasonable. All I know to do at this point is be very clear with my thought process and hope that someone will tell me where my logic takes such a radically different path than conservatives.

Let me begin by explaining what my faith has to do with my desire for universal coverage. Regarding the relationship between religion and politics – folk have argued with me about this correlation for decades; usually after I preached a sermon that didn’t sit well with them.  But I think one’s politics is a byproduct of one’s worldview, one’s faith system. I am not talking about a specific creed or confession; just an individual’s conscious or unconscious belief system of who they are as an individual, who they are in relation to others, the relationship between humanity to the rest of the natural world and the relationship of a Higher Power, or lack thereof, to all these things.  At its most basic definition, politics is how we organize relationships with one another.  The values that determine that organizational structure stems from a worldview we have imagined to be rightly ordered.

For example, our founding fathers believed that a Higher Power created all ‘men’ (sic) as equal members of the human race; no inherent superiority or inferiority. Additionally, the very act of that divine creation ‘gave’ a certain level of dignity and worth to the human being. Because of that dignified worth, each individual has the right to be treated accordingly. An obvious example of how this is manifested in our social ordering (politics) is the idea of death fights. Dog fights and cock fights are offensive to many, but most people do not consider them on the same level of atrocity as gladiator fights. Gladiator fights are considered atrocious because most of us do not believe that the human being exists as ‘sport’ for the gods. Less obvious is how this has developed into the right to protect oneself, to make a living, to be educated, to own property. Today, we are asking what determines a human being’s access to healthcare. Is it by virtue of money? Employment? Health? Social standing? Intelligence? Merit? Marital Status? Or is it one of those inherited rights? I believe that the health of an individual is of grave importance to the Creator. In my tradition, a lot of biblical ink is devoted to the curing of the sick and teaching how to care for the sick. I get the impression that I’m suppose to love my neighbor by caring for her when she’s sick even if I don’t think she deserves it. Because God think she deserves it.  (to be continued …)

Our understandings of vocation as individual and corporate response to and expression of relationship with the living God move beyond a matter of compulsive obedience to superior order or an acquiescence to preordained determinism. As in any creative partnership, communication is central to the relationship, and it is vital to vocation and discernment. Commitment to mutuality in relationship entails commitment to a conversational imperative, a free, open disclosure of self to the other, without which intimacy cannot be sustained.

When I was growing up, children who tried to have a conversation with adults were often accused of back talk. Children had conversations with other children; those of equal status. Necessarily, if it was considered rude to talk back to adults, it would have been blasphemous to talk back to God in conversation. When I came of age to have a mature relationship with God, I was heavily influenced by evangelical and fundamental movements that emphasized prayer as what one did to try to understand God’s will for one’s life; for understanding the preordained determinism. My vocational call, then, was interpreted under these filters. I didn’t approach the discernment as a conversation, as a place where my will was valid, respected or relevant. Little wonder, I came to resent God and my vocation when the circumstances surrounding both became painful and difficult.

This conversational imperative is in lively evidence in the stories and lives of Moses and the prophets, of Jesus and Paul. In theirs and countless stories related in the scriptures, in Hebrew midrash and Christian patristic writing, in the witnesses of saints, in sermons and songs ancient and modern we experience this lively, living conversation among partners intimately caught up in and bound to committed relationship. . . .

God and I have been in a lively, living conversation for a while now. Ironically, it would be fair to describe my tone and attitude in this conversation as back talk, even insolent. But I suppose that is a necessary corrective to my earlier compulsive obedience. During this time away from the church, there was never much doubt in my mind that my faith was alive and well; even though, to many, it appeared lost or dead. My spiritual friends who were well versed in the stormy faith journeys of the patriarchs and saints were less concerned for my spiritual welfare.

Jesus was at pains to insist that he neither wanted nor had followers, but friends. “I have called you friends,” he explains to his disciples, “because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father” (John 15:15). Those who sought to learn from him would not copy his attitudes and behaviors, but would undertake the more difficult business of plumbing their own depths, exploring and embracing their own selves, and shouldering full responsibility for their very being. Or, as he famously expressed it, they would take up their own cross—a cross that was distinct from his.

This was the paragraph that made me stop and pause. As I read it, I had an “ah-hah” moment. Is that what these last five years have been about? Is this a plausible meaning for the aridity I have experienced in the sanctuary lately and finding connectedness and understanding only on the therapeutic couch? Is this why finding sobriety through Alcoholics Anonymous felt wrong for me in spite of the profound respect I have for the program? Is this why I needed to find sobriety solely based on my own will and responsibility for my behavior — to declare that I have power over choosing alcohol or not? Is my greatest spiritual struggle not in knowing God’s embrace but in coming to embrace myself?

This learning process, this discipleship, is dynamic and subject to constant variation, consistent with any relationship between and among living beings. . . . The process of daily, constant learning about self and one’s world is a demanding discipleship and the central activity of discernment. Understood this way, we see that any so-called discipleship that obscures or escapes such learning is not worthy of the name; it is just evasion, denial, busyness, and distraction, and ultimately, destructive dishonesty. True discipleship not only dirties the hands, it breaks the heart, opens the mind, and stretches the nerves, as all good learning does. Yet, paradoxically, it is this very dangerous conversation that constitutes the core of discipleship and the intimate heart of relationship with God.

From Transforming Vocation by Sam Portaro, a volume in the series Transformations: The Episcopal Church of the 21st Century, edited by James Lemler. Copyright © 2008. Used by permission of Church Publishing Incorporated, New York, NY. www.churchpublishing.org

Because I just can’t seem to aggravate myself enough, I have decided to move to an even MORE sophisticated blogging platform! Surely, tell me it is so … one day … in the not too far distant future … I will understand computing well enough to know what I want to do BEFORE I start.