Mean Lutherans; and a Blogthing

Every so often I try to climb out of my blogosphere curvatus in se by reading other blogs.

Usually I go down the formidible list of RevGalBlogPals to see what's going on with everyone there. But every rare once in awhile I visit the Blogging Lutherans webring. I say "rare" because...well, because most of these folks are way too angry for me. It's like reading Rush Limbaugh radio-show transcripts with "Jesus" and "Confessional" and "Formula of Concord" thrown in.

This makes me sad. I rather suspect that we all share a similar church-culture background. I suspect we could have amusing conversations about beer and wine, or music, or funny church stories, or any number of other topics, without the bloody razor-wire fence of inter-Lutheran relations intervening.

Today I read one blog, by an individual whom I assume numbers himself in the "Confessional" category, that more or less said the same thing: that some of the other Lutheran blogs contained rhetoric so vitriolic, so downright mean, that they presented a poor Christian, and poor Lutheran, witness.

Oh. My. God. Talk about throwing down the gauntlet. This poor guy had at least a couple new orifices drilled into him by his Confessional coreligionists for being a wuss, and probably a closet ELCA symp as well.

I had wanted to drop him a line on his blog and say, "Thanks for being brave enough to say this"...but I don't want to get him in even more trouble with the theological Sturmwaffen.

So...I bid adieu to the Blogging Lutherans for another year or so. Please don't hurt me.

But on one of the more innocuous blogs on that webring I did find a cute Blogthing:

You Are Garlic

Of all the spice types, you are the most universally loved. You get long with pretty much everyone, and you leave a lasting impression. You adapt yourself well to situations. You can fit in or stand out, depending on what you're called on to do.

What Spice Are You?