The vocal minority

I have been spending the past few days trying to make sense of what happened last week. Only a few people really know the full extent of what happened, so I will begin by summing it all up:

Two Thursday's ago I began a series on the tensions we need to keep in Christianity. I began by explaining the tension between the individual journey and the communal journey. Last Thursday I discussed the tension between reaching people with content and how that content is expressed. This message went viral on Reddit. Over 400 people visited Fig Tree from the subreddit link. Of those 400 visits it was shared with others and 400 plus more people found the meditation that day. This has made last Thursday's meditation the second most visited mediation to date.  It had enough upvotes to keep it on hot page of /r/Christianity for most of the day. From everything I just shared, it was well received. By the end of the day it was like by 79%, which is good for a Reddit link.

However, there was a very vocal minority that spoke up and shared their opinion. Before I continue I wish to say, thank goodness for the dialogue. I appreciated all of it. Week after week I end by saying I want to hear from you, and I mean it. If I am wrong I want to hear it. If you have something to add, I want to hear that too. Nothing is going to be solved by simply reading and moving on. Part of being the Body of Christ is connecting. So this isn't a bully pulpit moment. I hope if nothing else makes sense, that is understood.

The vocal minority helped me realize what needs to be said about the internet. 

• We are conditioned to believe the worst of what we read- So many are posting to be against something we forgot there are people working towards something. Fig Tree Christian has been, and will always be, working towards unity. If that was lost last Thursday, than the post was not a success, it was a failure. Period.
• The internet has become a place to get a quick jab in- We used to live in a world where our actions played out and continued for longer than a kilobyte. We knew our neighbors. Most of us grew up and lived out our lives in the same place. The world was huge. Now the world is tiny. We can talk to people across oceans and make an impact thousands of miles away. That is awesome! My sister lives a state away, but if I have something I want to tell her, I can contact her immediately! I am so grateful for cellphones and the internet. At the same time, the contact has caused us to disconnect. We don't have to be accountable for our actions, or what we say and do. If we have a good zinger we can post it and leave. (I really appreciate some of the commenters on Reddit. Some of them stuck around and we talked it out. Thank you.) Fig Tree Christian has been, and always will be a place that will attempt to engage others in love. We cannot be accountable for how others engage us, but we will always be accountable for our we engage others. We will always be aware of how our words can hurt others, and when they do hurt we will apologize and stand accountable. 
• The truth is going to hurt- I have so much respect for the Christianity subreddit because they know this is true. So many post what they believe and brace themselves for the responses. So many have posted how they learned so much because of those responses, but those responses usually came with a sting. As Fig Tree Christian strives towards the truth, know we cannot candy coat everything. For that, I'm sorry. I hope, as we struggle through the difficult parts we can struggle together. 

Well, I believe that hits the highlights. I am glad what happened last Thursday and I wouldn't take it back. If it hurt, I'm sorry. This is me showing you I put up my sword years ago. No guest meditator, or minister of Fig Tree will carry a sword here. I hope that clears the air. This is a place of love.

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