I started blogging back when it was cool. Seriously. In 2003. Back then, we were starting a new church plant and working through what it meant to be simple, organic, shaped by our neighborhood more than big church models, and wrestling with a postmodern shift.
The blog changed over time, as did that church. It eventually closed, going the way of any other organic thing that didn’t quite reach the point at which it could thrive on its own. It closed; we went through transitions, and I changed how I wanted to blog. The blog was dormant, partly because I felt like I had run out of things to say, and partly because my doctoral program was taking up a lot of thinking and writing time. But mostly because everything was different.
I used to call the blog Working the Angles, taking the theme of Eugene Peterson’s book by that title which encouraged pastors to focus their attention on three things: prayer, attentiveness to scripture, and spiritual direction. I still adhere to those three grounding points, though I don’t really call myself a pastor much anymore.
Then I called this blog In the Coracle, after the image of the hide-covered boats that the early Celtic Christians used to travel from place to place. It was a slight mistake on my part (more in a moment), but I was taken with the image of folks setting out to sea in a round ship that couldn’t be navigated, letting the Spirit blow them wherever they should go. It was a fitting image for my life at that time.
These days I call the blog In the Currach, because I had learned that the craft in which Columba and Brendan and many others traveled was not the round, unnavigable one, but a longer and entirely navigable (if frail) one. It came at a time at which I was finally feeling more direction, though very much led by the wind of the Spirit in my sails, and with a few co-paddlers.
Still, I didn’t write much in the past few years. A few notes here and there, many more short posts that linked to others’ content.
Nowadays, I’ve broadened the scope of this site. Here you will find a mix of Christian spirituality, Celtic Christianity, motorcycling, bicycling, photography and who knows what else. Books, to be certain. Part of this is simple; I don’t want to maintain separate sites anymore for my various interests, but part of it is deeper; I want to re-integrate myself.
I’d welcome your conversation, through comments on posts, or directly (look for the Contact link above).
Enjoy your time here; I hope that it benefits you.
pat loughery 