Virtual Methodist

It's been a w hile... More recently because I've been on holiday. Before that because unless I was writing something for another context I was becoming more wary of being yet another megaphone commentator on the issues of the day, be it gay marriage, gay cakes, the election, bonfires etc, where my online comments were not matched by action or discussions in the real world, or might have hindered such actions or conversations. I am so tired of polemic and ranting (including my own) that ultimately achieves nothing or simply reinforces divisions, and increasingly that is what the media and especially social media is full of. However, we do need genuine opinion formers in the public sphere who are able to articulate a vision for doing things differently at a local, national and global level, and they are few and far between. During our holiday in the US we visited the Washington DC, and saw the Lincoln Memorial, scene of Martin Luther King Junior's famous, "I have a dre...

Has there ever been an inauguration like it? Stupid question - answer no! Forgetting all the shattering of the "color-bar" stuff (as if you could) and the palpable sense of hope and expectation invested in him and the event itself, the sheer multi-platform coverage of the whole thing was mind-blowing... My poor little RSS feed couldn't keep up with everyone blogging about it (some more constructively than others)... Even the West Wing (the real one, not the comforting televisual one) has entered the blogosphere immendiately after the inauguration. Also my email inbox was suddenly filled with emails from American friends who seemingly felt that they could emerge out of hiding and re-engage with the world now that their nation had regained a sense of pride in itself and vision for where it should be going. "I found myself singing the words of the National Anthem no longer embarrassed to be known as an American" wrote one... While more than one echoed MLK Jnr in s...