First, a programming tease: if all goes well, we will have guest insta-bloggers for next Friday’s show. Our diocesan convention takes place next weekend, and I may not be able to watch the show. So I’m recruting a pair of guest bloggers to offer instant reaction. Stay tuned for details.
Now a more pressing matter:
It seems likely that “Daniel” will not survive beyond Feb. 3–at least not on NBC. That has left me wondering whether to continue the blog or not. I like the idea of discussing issus of faith and spirituality as they present themselves in popular culture. And I am interested in sustaining the blog because it has a trickle down effect on the rest of our diocesan Web site, and has resulted in more people viewing the diocesan movie, visiting our spirituality site, and looking at our welcome materials.
But if we weren’t discussing a single show, would people return? That’s not a rhetorical question. I am asking for feedback. We could discuss Marilynne Robinson’s brilliant novel Gilead, or the book and movie Millions–in which a little boy who has lost his mom receives visits from saints like Clare of Assisi, Francis, Peter and Jospeh, or the upcoming film based on The DaVinci Code (which is so stone-cold stupid about Scripture scholarship and Church history that I know it will make me want to scream. ) We could examine song lyrics (The Rising by Bruce Springsteen would have been great blog fodder if the blog had been around at that time.) and television programs like Lost that occassionaly offer something like the Mr.Eco episode of a two weeks ago, which dealt with themes of sin, redemption and rebirth. (One problem with the TV show approach is that, at the moment, Lost and “Daniel” represent the full extent of my regular televison viewing. Although I will keep on top of The Sopranos when that returns. )
There are many topics we could tackle that would broaden our conversation, making it less focused on The Episcopal Church and on what Scripture does or doesn’t say about homosexuality. As moderator, I would find that a relief because people tend to say things to one another in the course of those debates that I would rather not have them say on a church Web site. But Scriptural disputation has been at the center of several of our conversations, and it may be that without it, the blog would lose so much energy that it might not be worth sustaining.
Just thinking out loud here. Feel free to chime in. If we were going to keep the blog open, where should we take it?
Jim