There was a time, not so very long ago, when I would frown in baffled confusion whenever some other blogger would write something along the lines of, “Sorry I’ve been so quiet lately, there’s a bunch of stuff going on in my life that I can’t really blog about.”

I didn’t get that. For one thing (I would say to myself), isn’t that the whole point of blogging? To talk about all the stuff that’s going on in our lives?

For another thing, my favorite bloggers, the ones I follow voraciously and miss when they’re quiet too long, tend to be the sort of unabashed oversharers who will write in great detail about, say, the capricious workings of their lady-plumbing or the bizarre sociopathic tendencies of their cat. How could there be ANYTHING that these folks would be too embarrassed to blog about??

Well, now I get it. It’s one thing to place your own personal tragedies and comedies on display for all the world to see. It’s a whole ‘nother thing to drag other members of your community into the spotlight with you.

I’ve never really been part of a community before, so this was seriously an eye-opening revelation for me. Bear with me as I marvel at the intricate and fragile web of diplomacy and artifice that apparently holds modern civilization together. Pardon my transfixed silence as I come to terms with the constant manipulations, the casual betrayals, the almost unconscious every-man-for-himself jockeying for position.

Okay, that sounds a bit melodramatic. I haven’t lost faith in humanity’s capacity for goodness, and I still believe that the overwhelming majority of people really do mean well. After all my experiences of the past year, how could I not? But just between you and me, Dear Internet, I am beginning to lose patience with people who KNOW the way Christians are supposed to behave and yet continually justify their own selfish or just-plain-mean choices.

There have been three or four separate, unrelated incidents in the past couple of months, all involving me and folks from my church, that have left me scratching my head at the total disregard some humans have for the basic rights and feelings of other humans. It would be an overstatement to say that I was actually hurt by any of the incidents, because, let’s face it, I don’t even know what it would take to hurt me anymore. Here’s hoping I never have to find out. But I’m beginning to understand why so many good Christians don’t care much for church people: you get all the normal flaws and imperfections of regular people, PLUS the breathtakingly blatant hypocrisy, which adds that lovely touch of irony!

Anyway. I’ve probably said more than enough already, so I’ll stop grousing now.

I love my church. I love the people there. I love being a part of helping it grow. I do not love everything that goes on there, but I think that’s probably true of any community.

Seriously though, can’t we all just get along?