Blog Post Leads to an Article in "The Lutheran"

Are you one of the 280,000 Lutherans who get The Lutheran, the official magazine of the ELCA? You may be like me--I get magazines, I place them in the magazines-to-be-read pile, and 6-12 months later, I put them in the recycling bin. Because of this tendency, I've let most of my subscriptions expire.

But if/when you get your February 2011 issue, be sure to look for my article. Those of you who don't get the magazine can go here to read the first several paragraphs. I'll likely repost the whole thing in a few months, but if you don't want to wait, feel free to e-mail me (or leave me your e-mail address in a comment), and I can send you the document in a Word file.

Those of you who are careful readers of this blog with a long memory may say, "Hey, this article feels familiar." Indeed, it began life as this blog post. And that blog post wouldn't have happened, had I not read an article in The Washington Post (referenced in the blog post) and been casting about for a topic. I'm always aware of my tendency to castigate myself for all the ways I imagine that I fail. If I manage to mail out 5 manuscripts in the course of a busy week, I don't say, "Good job, Kris." No, I ask, "Why not 10 manuscripts?" If I pray once a day, I ask myself why not 3 or 5? I'm always trying to remind myself that spiritual practice doesn't have to be so hard. I'm always trying not to yoke the word "discipline" with the word "punish," as so many Westerners do (and did even before Foucault!).

And thus, the blog post, and then later, an editor from The Lutheran contacted me and asked if I could write something along the same lines, but different, for the magazine. Of course, I said yes. If you want more thoughts on blogging and the route to publication, I wrote about it in today's blog post at my creativity blog.

I'm grateful that the editor saw my work and contacted me. I'm grateful for the doors that this blog has opened to me. I'm grateful to all of you who read my postings. And if I get some new readers in the coming weeks, I'd like to offer a big huge welcome. May this blog be a welcome table, of sorts, where we feast on words and keep each other nourished.