The Rev. Terry Martin, better known as Father Jake to tens of thousands of fans in the Anglican blogosphere, announced last night that he is closing down his blog to pursue some new possibilities. He will be deeply missed, especially by the hundreds of people who regularly left comments at what became a spirited, sometimes raucous online community.
“Jake’s place,” as he called it, was the best spot on the internet to get in touch with what was happening among the liberal net roots of the Episcopal Church, to read a vigorous, sustained defense of the Church’s efforts to include gay and lesbian Christians in its life and leadership, and to find sometimes scathing indictments of the tactics of the Church’s adversaries, both within and without.
But Jake also called his audience to prayer, to contemplation and to self-examination, eager that in resisting extremism he and his readers not become extremists themselves. His was among the four or five most influential sites in the online Anglican world, and his departure will create a vacuum that won’t quickly (or perhaps simply won’t) be filled.
Good bye Jake, and hello Terry. We know our paths will cross again, perhaps even run parallel from time to time as you plan your future. In the wake of General Convention 2003, when it seemed that Church Center was unwilling to support what its General Convention had done, you stepped in and helped the majority of faithful Episcopalians find their voice and make it heard. Your blog has been a rallying point for people who have wondered about the courage of their leaders’ convictions and were appalled by the rhetoric and behavior of some of the Anglican Communion’s self-appointed saviors. You helped people sustain hope, not only through your eloquent advocacy, but by putting them in touch with one another–giving them a place to meet and to find solace and strength in one another’s company.
Nice work buddy. Our daily trips through the Anglican blogosphere will be briefer, and less enjoyable, but we know you will be building the Kingdom using other tools.
(Mark Harris also has some new plans, although Preludium isn’t going anywhere.)