I hesitated to write this. Just three short weeks ago, I wrote about confession in general, and the website PostSecret in particular. While it would have been more simple to devote that space to a discussion about why it is that we have this need to vent or get something off our chests, I wrote instead about the fact that this type of confession doesn’t really go anywhere beyond confession itself. It lacks what we experience in a liturgical church service following the confession of sin: The assurance of pardon.
Why am I returning to this subject?
Because this week blogger Mandy Thompson (who just this week, in the link list, we referred to as not that Mandy Thompson) offered her readers an opportunity to comment (in this case, confess) anonymously beginning with the phrase, “What if I Told You…”
While this sort of thing may not be your preferred brand of reading — perhaps you consider it prurient or voyeuristic — I think that every once in awhile something of this nature bears reading; in this case for two very particular reasons.
First of all, these were Christian readers responding to the opportunity, not readers from among the general population. In fact, a very noticeable percentage of them were pastors’ wives or pastors; something very reminiscent of Anne Jackson’s books, and her current Permission to Speak Freely book tie-in website. Apparently, clergy families are in desperate need for an Ann Landers or Dear Abby page on which to bare their deepest hurts.
As we are all from time to time.
Secondly however, and this is why I’m linking to this today; at what I’m sure was great personal emotional exhaustion, Mandy took the time to answer each and every response. That’s with the number of comments closing in on 200.
What if I told you I’m impressed?
This is the blogosphere at its best. When someone tells you that blogs are a waste of time, let them see what’s happening at MandyThompson.com, and then don’t miss some of her post-mail-avalanche comments that follow more recently.
If you’re a blogger, do you see what you do as a ministry? Are there times someone left a comment that resulted in you taking on the role of counselor? If you’re a reader, have you ever had a blog writer that you really connected with and received help from? For either category, have you ever continued the dialog off-the-blog?