I’m Bored With Blogs

Blogs are starting to bore me.

I realized this after taking a month off from blogging. Because of my hiatus I had thousands of articles stored up on my Feedly list. Sifting through these I realized how little of substance is actually being said in blogs.

And so I’m bored.

It feels like the same people saying the same things in the same way. And those of us that are also curators (having features like Today in Blogworld) are guilty of perpetuating this. I confess that I’ve shared articles from known commodities without really reading through the article and considering all the implications. I like the title. I trust the author. So I link to it. That isn’t helpful. And I’m sorry.

Fresh Voices

This is why I put out a plea last Friday for blogs that aren’t on The Gospel Coalition (TGC), that don’t care to be on TGC, and aren’t whining about TGC.

I’ve got nothing against TGC, it just so happens that this is the echo chamber that I seem to find myself trapped in. It feels like so many blogs that I read are either part of TGC or they are writing in such a way to try to get the attention of TGC. Or on the other end of the spectrum they are talking about why TGC stinks.

I just want to hear fresh voices.

I’m not bored with the gospel by any means. But if I’m being honest I’m a bit bored with the way that we talk about the gospel. That’s why I’m spending less and less times on blogs and more and more times with John Newton and my Puritan friends. They’ve got a way about them. They are gospel-soaked in a way that never gets old. (Probably because they don’t use phrases like gospel-soaked).

Changes

I’m also making a couple of changes in my own writing and in our Today in Blogworld (TiB) feature.

For my own writing I am going to work extra hard to know my own voice and use it. I’m convinced that the less I care about circulation the more our readers will benefit. I want to be a fresh voice.

For the TiB feature I am going to start reading more widely. You can help with this. If you know of solid blogs that fit the qualifications I mentioned earlier, then, I’d love to know about them.

Secondly, I am going to force known commodities to work. Not that getting a link from me is a sought after prize, it is not. But I want to read a TGC author with the same careful eye that I do someone without a name I recognize. That kind of laziness is what has created the mess of our celebrity culture. I want out. I’ll still link to known authors—probably often—but I won’t do it just because of who wrote it.

Conclusion

I hope that nothing I’m saying here comes across curmudgeonly or that I have some vendetta against TGC. I don’t. But I’m desperate to break out of this echo chamber that I’ve put myself into. I want to see Christian blogging raise the bar, because I don’t believe I’m the only one getting tired.

I believe whole-heartedly in the need to be gospel-centered. But my biggest fear is that folks will confuse the way that we talk about the gospel (which is getting boring to me) with the gospel itself. And that’ll be a tragedy of epic proportions. This is why I’m pleading for fresh voices or at least a freshness to our voice.