I'm not sure just what kind of word this is; it may or may not be exactly the right word for the conversation I want to introduce here. You can let me know later.
Several folks have commented that they faithfully read What's the Good Word every day. They may even consider it as a daily devotional. We appreciate this though it was never really intended to be devotional but to be part of an ongoing conversation about the (generally) good things that are going on in our Mission. We encounter many, many people engaged in wonderful works and we want to let the rest of you know about them, and to encourage you to be similarly engaged and to share your stories with us.
One of the good friends of the blog recently noted how few comments there were to this or that topic that he considered really needed some response. "What can we do to get more people to comment? or to read the comments that are offered?"
I don't know. I'm not sure how important it is. I realize that there are other blogs that I follow faithfully, where I sometimes comment; more often I do not. But one thing I do if the topic is of particular interest to me is to follow-up. By this I mean, I make a point of going back to those interesting topics to see what kind of conversation is going on. And it is in these intentional follow-up visits that I do indeed find real treasure.
Today I wanted to let you in on this original objective of our blog--that is, to start some interesting, relevant, even important conversation on prioirity topics for us in Canada East Mission. Most of those conversations may be happening in your congregation, around your dinner table, at your adult class or with a neighbour across the back yard fence. And that is OK by me. But some of them could also be happening in the Comment section of this very page you're reading right now.
If that is to happen, you'll need to keep reading the Comments. You'll need to occasionally Post a Comment. And from time to time you'll need to follow-up. That is to say, you'll need to come on back to see what has been happening since you first checked in. You may be surprised to see how much has been added to the original posting of Distinctives, or Pastor or even Apostrophe!
Today's post may not be inspiring for your morning devotion, but I hope it's helpful as a suggestion for using this resource in a way you might not have thought about, and that perhaps you'll get to know some other Good Word readers in a whole new way.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
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People like to comment on bad things - or things they disagree with. Not to say that you should go this route - but if your "word" were "homosexuality", "rebaptism", "national conferences", or even "climate change" you could sit back and watch the comments fly.
ReplyDeleteMaybe dear chicken, but don't you find it interesting that the longest discussion has been about "coffee"?
ReplyDeleteAnd, in my experience, the most chatter often follows conversations about FOOD! Perhaps it's the same phenomenon that attracts folks to potlucks or to events that also offer refreshments.
Tried to write a comment today on the original Good Word page Carman posted it would not work
ReplyDeleteAny on else having a problem with that?
Sorry Larry, from time to time our google-host gives us grief, but on the whole, it generally serves us pretty well. Without resources to have a full-time techie on staff, it's good to be able to rely on what's publicly available out there. And this one has, for the most part, does a good job.
ReplyDeletePerhaps more practice will make it easier :-) Please do try again!
Or try one of the other routes. We're on facebook with our blog posts or you can email me or Carman directly @communityofchrist.ca and we'll be happy to post your comment for you.
There were a few post which I want to comment on, but I needed more time to chew the topic over. I hope some people are revisiting these past blog entries.
ReplyDeleteI learned a valuable lesson while I was working in the orient. During conversation, people there take much longer to respond to your questions or comment on what you've said. For me, this silence is unbearable, and I often wondered if the other person simply was not interesting in our conversation. As it turns out, there culture finds it rude to respond too quick, as if you never thought about your response. Its seen as a sign of ignorance, and many must've seen me as less then intelligent. I learned to put more thought and care into my response in conversations. Hence, I'm forced to respond in due time. I hope some of you are able to catch what I say :-)
Thanks Matt,
ReplyDeleteThis is certainly part of my point in this post. I've learned too that a conversation may be going on in the Comments of a post that went up several days ago.
Unfortunately, this means that unless I take the initiative to go back and look, I may miss some of the most thoughtful responses. It's just one of the things we need to learn about the blog-world. Sometimes the onus is on the reader to follow-up to get the most from an on-line conversation. Your lesson from the orient highlights one of the reasons,