Getting personal…

The lady who edits our church newsletter asked my wife to write something on the theme of repentance. My wife had a number of things going on, but- despite great progress- hasn’t perfected the art of saying “no”, so… after saying “yes” she passed the assignment on to me.

I wrote something and turned it in. Now, you need to know that this lady is a Texan, a Southerner as my wife is, having the Southern lady’s inbred gentility and kindness. So… after many compliments about my writing style and way of expressing myself, she wondered whether perhaps I might possibly consider one itsy-bitsy modification. Could I, might I possibly consider how to put in a personal example, an anecdotal illustration, a human interest angle?

I reread my article and saw what she meant. It wasn’t bad… for a dry academic sermonette. But human interest? Not so much.

I’ll start with the gender defense- I’m a guy, right? And while I enjoy discussing what you and I think about some issue, you’re not likely to hear me talking about how I “feeeel” about something.

Then there’s ethnicity. I’m Scottish on my father’s side, so that tells you how much emoting went on in our house while I grew up! My father is widowed now, and sharing an apartment with his sister outside Washington, D.C.. I thoroughly, totally enjoy and cherish talking with them every Sunday evening, but you know, the most personal we get is asking about each other’s exercise program and general health, then it’s on to the more entertaining ritual of commenting on the latest acts of outrageous cowardice committed by that passel o’ rogues in the Congress and Senate. Och, we work ‘em over mercilessly, not that they deserve any mercy, mind you!

My aunt is the one who’ll have family news, but even there the majority of our time by far is spent discussing our shared interest in the stock market. That’s the way we are, and I’m really O.K. with that, and I love them dearly.

So, now I’m looking over my blog, such as it is to date, with the same critique in mind. If I become just one more “bloggerazzi”, who needs it? This is, after all, about my personal journey as an American, Orthodox, patriot. Perhaps next I’ll tell you about the unnatural friendship I have with another man in my church.