to blog or not to blog

That is the question Julie over at the emerging women blog asked the current members. Here's my response:

Thank you so much for starting and maintaining the emerging women blog. I think I signed up pretty early on and had good intentions of being more involved, but then life continued to happen. I guess one of my frustrations with the emerging conversation is that it still seems to be dominated by men and their voices tend to be intellectual and often theoretical while I'm craving the intuitive and experiential. Where I hear the most women is on this blog and that's great, but it still feels kind of like a murmur in relation to the rest of the emerging conversation.

I recently listened to a podcast from Tony & Julie Jones, which I loved and I think helps illustrate my angst. What a fresh voice Julie offers, but she's busy living life while her husband is the professional theologian and a prominent "face" of the emerging church. Why do we only get to hear from Julie once a year? How can the emerging church be more intentional about bringing female perspectives into the forefront?

The other problems I have with blogging are my issues:
- Many emerging bloggers seem to have a whole lot more time to spend in the blogosphere than I can manage, so even when I try to interact, I feel like I'm left in the dust pretty quickly.
- As I grow in my faith, I am being shaped by the experiences of living life and many times I find it uncomfortable to share the depth of that experience. Specifically, I don't often bring my husband or son into the online conversation and because they are the priority in my life, sometimes I find I have very little else to say.

So, I while I may regret giving up being a member of emerging women, from where I sit now, it probably makes sense for me to become a friend.