You all should check out the fascinating theological conversation taking place on the comment posts from Amy Robinson’s blog on December 16. Amy and Viola, one of our frequent commenters, have a great dialogue going on about the nature of the Trinity. Thanks to both of you for continuing the discussion—I’ve learned a lot from reading it.

Today marks the year anniversary of Network Notes. Hooray! It amazes me that it has gone this long and enjoyed modest success. In fact, it is downright weird sometimes. Not only has this blog been featured on the PC(USA) homepage, but a modified blog post has even shown up in Presbyterians Today (where I heard that a letter to the editor wanted to know if I had anything better to do with my time than bash Martha Stewart. My answer? Nope, not really). We have even appeared in news reports of the larger ecumenical Christian community—click here to read an article about Network Notes published in The Christian Post back in October.

When I started writing this blog, I really wasn’t sure what it would morph into. I kind of had the idea of some sort of regular article rhythm—on Mondays I would write about spiritual disciplines, Tuesday would lift up a women’s concern, etc. As I went along, though, the structure became much more fluid than that. Friends started e-mailing me compelling articles for blog topics. Holidays would come up, and I would realize that neither you nor I really had a clue about their Christian origins. I would have a run-in with the River City Parking Authority that I just had to share. And some days, I was sad and lonely and only wrote to seek God’s presence in it all.

So what started out as an attempt to create a well-ordered and edifying miscellany of Christian topics ended up as a jambalaya stew, daily dished out of the murkiness of my own life and our collective social angst. It has been consistent in one sense, though, from start to finish—the ultimate goal has been to prompt questions. I know that not everything that has appeared here would gain general acclaim. In fact, some of you have been very much in opposition to things said. But I’ve never claimed to be nor wanted to be the authority on all subjects. Rather, we’ve all striven to live up to the best of the Reformed tradition, seeking God’s will together in this loose cyber-community.

As for the haphazard way in which the blog has come into its own this year, I think there’s been something of the Holy Spirit behind it. I watched a video a week or two ago called Leadership and the New Science. It talked about Chaos Theory, the scientific theory that a certain natural order always emerges from chaos. Perhaps that is how Network Notes has evolved into its present form. Out of the chaos comes order. Out of suffering comes love. Out of the darkness comes the Light of the World.

And out of some crazy idea comes this little corner of cyberspace. I hope you’ve enjoyed the ride. I sure know that I have.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” --John 1:1

Kelsey

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Network Notes!
Happy Birthday to you!