Theology and the random comment

from The Lead by Ann Fontaine

The Rev. Canon Susan Russell, All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena, CA, reflects on the power of online comments at Huffington Post:

And I've been thinking ever since about the power of a random comment on a blog post to engender what resulted in an exercise in public theology -- giving me the chance to think through "what did I mean by the comment I posted?" and inviting my correspondent to hear a perspective different than her own.

And it's gotten me wondering about the ways and times and places we all can benefit from asking questions of those with whom we differ -- like my email correspondent did -- and also about challenging ourselves to respond to those who question us as a way of building bridges of understanding across those differences. An email at a time.

A conversation at a time. An inch at a time.

Editor's Note: Susan Russell is a former president of Integrity, the gay lobby within pecusa.  A few years ago I referred to the growing nature of acceptable sexual practices within their movement, as I do on this blog.  Russell criticized me for my lgbtiqrsuvwxyz characterization.  This was before Bishop Gene Robinson mused that there are so many more letters in the alphabet than lgbt.  The dishonesty of this movement is displayed in Russell's reluctance to embrace what Robinson candidly said is true about the movement.