Saturday 6 September 2008

On being heard

I realised fairly early on in my ministry that I needed to be careful when I preached that I did not overly expose my family's private affairs. In choosing illustrative examples it is not hard for those in the know to put pieces together (2+2=5). Likewise in a small town like Adelaide, it is all too easy to identify folk from scant information.
One also needs to be careful not to say too much, because wrong conclusions can be arrived at, and the overly sensitive amongst us can take umbrage...or feel they have been misrepresented.
It is an even more curious issue with blogging, because it is not a precise art form. I sort of think I am thinking out loud (heaven knows my family think I am odd enough for talking to myself as I go round the house, and the daughter's boyfriend is  faintly bemused  by the fact that I applaud the television...and we sing at each other all the time....).
Trouble is, sometime blogging is taken to be more accurate than it actually is or is intended to be. It looks like accuracy, but it's musings; when we confuse this we get into trouble.
Mind you, musings don't give you permission to slander people. Though readers should also note that what is often being conveyed is impressions, feelings not facts. And the reader may wish that I hadn't felt like I did, but they can't tell me how I did feel.
Then again, another problem with blogging is that you can't be sure you ahve any readers any way!

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