Friday Five: Blog Names

One of the Revgals has a daughter who wants a new blog name on her blog and came up with these questions. They are fun. Thanks, Songbird.

1. So how did you come up with your blogging name? And/or the name of your blog?

As one of the earlier Episcopal women ordained, I was constantly asked “What should we call you?” I had been a Roman Catholic sister whose tradition was to call their choir sisters, “mother” or “mer”. I never liked being called ‘mother’ or ‘sister.’ It took away my personhood, I felt. It was just too easy to commend one to a pigeon-hole if one used only the honorific. So when I was ordained I asked people to call me by my “Christian” name.
Throughout my ministry, however, this was a bit of problem. As the second generation of women began to be ordained, more and more of them took the title “Mother”. I don’t begrudge them the title, but I still have a problem, being single, and childless. “Mother” doesn’t have the gravitas that I believe that the position of priest should have in the congregation. I don’t much like “Father” used for the men either. But I am catholic enough to understand that there is something to be said for the need of a title.
Now that I am working among the Lutherans, I have really come to like the word “Pastor”. I am sorry that they don’t recognize the priesthood portion of the role of Pastor—but I really do like being called “Pastor”. It is what I do! There is no drawing of some ontological difference between lay and ordained. There are no gender hang-ups, and no familial or parental images that often muddy the role. It just feels cleaner.
When I began to blog, I decided to use Muthah+ simply because it seems to articulate the kind of in-your-face type of personality that I am. It also touches on my southern roots and it indicates that I am a priest with the little + at the end (which I seldom really use). And it is so antithetical to what I really believe the role of pastor/priest is supposed to be.
I blog at “Foraseason” and “Stoneofwitness”. ‘For a Season,’ I took directly from the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church when she said we had to put a moratorium on ordaining or consecrating LGBT persons ‘for a season.’ By using that title, I meant to hold her to that promise that it would only be for a while and not for forever. It is now a couple of years along and while we are making headway, the PB has not rescinded that fast. Since it is LGBT folks that are doing the fasting, I am trying to keep ++Katharine’s feet to the fire—not that she reads my blog.
Shortly after starting that blog, however, I was called to serve an ELCA congregation as called pastor. I have been there almost a year now. I will not become a Lutheran—I wouldn’t know how. It isn’t in my Anglican DNA. But For a Season, I am serving in this arm of Christ’s church. I love what I am doing. It is mostly wonderful and mostly strange all at the same time. I feel much like the song “Send in the Clowns”, but I have found a home here for a time. Thank you, God for the opportunity.
The Stone of Witness blog is basically to address the issues that are facing the Episcopal Church in my area. Its purpose is to verbalize some of the questions and issues that are talked about or have been prohibited as topics in our diocese.

2.Are there any code names or secret identities in your blog? Any stories there?

I don’t have too many. J is my roommate of 30 years—not my partner! But is someone I love like a sister or a spouse after years of living together. I am not especially inventive in that way. Perhaps I could do more with that. But I have not kept my identity so secret that I need to cover what I say. That is not the purpose of my blog.

3.What are some blog titles that you just love? For their cleverness, drama, or sheer, crazy fun?

I love Presybi-opia, Hotcup Lutheran, EPISCOPALOOZA, MUCH NOTHING ABOUT ADO, ORDER OF SANTA IGNORA, Wormwood’s Doxy, The Rose Maniple.

4. What three blogs are you devoted to? Other than the RevGalBlogPals blog of course!

I follow Telling-Secrets, Inch at a Time, and Madpriest religiously --er, emmmm.

5. Who introduced you to the world of blogging and why?

A Lutheran pastor started me blogging as a way to keep in touch with my supporters when I went to help after Katrina. I wrote daily which I cannot do now. When I returned, I found that I needed to open a new blog to address some issues facing my diocese.

Bonus question: Have you ever met any of your blogging friends? Where are some of the places you've met these fun folks?

Yes, I follow some of the blogs of my friends and people I know through the Church. I have had dinner with a couple who I never knew before the blog. It is fun. We always meet in a public place like a restaurant. It allows us to both to be safe.