When there is too much to write about...

I've been a bit quiet on this blog the last few days, and several things have been happening, public and private, what I would have loved to have written about. But I don't have the time, or the brains, or the capacity to write all of the posts I would like to have written.

I would have liked to have written about the Pornification of society, about the fact that 36% of the interent is allegedly pornographic, and that allegedly 40% of US dissolved marriages are because of Porn. I would have liked to have written about the naming and shaming of young teenage girls, with words that have impact far deeper than we can imagine. And to the boys and men, and other girls, who use and abuse those words, or worse. I would have liked to meet with them, talk to them, try to understand them. I would have liked to introduce them to the one in whom their identity is a gift, not a curse or a swear word.

I would have liked to have written about 'The Big IF', a wonderful campaign that seeks to bring awareness to world hunger. I would have liked to have written about simple steps we can all take to be part of a solution. I would have liked to have been brave enough to join the bishops in their fast, and honest enough to admit that a celebrity-driven, cultural movement might not be the whole solution or tell the whole story. I would have liked to have written about the amount of times that Jesus talked about, ate and used food as metaphor and image, and what that means in a culture where we eat too much even as we affect others in such a way as to leave them hungry.

I would have liked to write about Syria, and other countries, where horrific images can be found by the metaphorical bucket-load. I would have liked to have posted a picture that startled me, of a girl, tear-stained face, standing in her colourful clothes against a backdrop of her bombed-out neighbourhood. I would have liked to have written about solutions and problems, to get stuck into the complexity, and to maybe, just maybe, provoke myself or a reader to do something.

I would have liked to have written more about gender-neutral marriage, and the almost incomprehensibly-frustrating debate in our House of Lords. About the wisdom in Welby's speech, and the timidity too. I would have liked to have written letters to all the Lords who expressed anti-gay tendencies, and to all those who ignored the arguments they disagreed with. I would have liked to have pointed out the irony of being called 'Lords' in a culture that despises authority, and I would want to have a conversation about power and privilege, and whether expertise should ever trump popularity.

I would have liked to have written about queer theory and identity, and the lies our culture sells us. To be part of a movement to turn the tide of idiocy that places the burden of identity on the individual, when the creator has such a good plan. I would have liked to have written into the confusion and pain of people who don't know who they are, and challenged them that perhaps the answer is to be found in a place they don't expect. I would have liked to have written a book, several books, equipping my friends and brothers and sisters to think about how to welcome, love and disciple people they struggle to engage with. I would have liked to have thought about what Jesus might have said about queer theory and identity.

I would have liked to have written about education and depression. To point out that the proposed GCSE's format would have slightly dampened my chances - because I deal in ideas and arguments rather than easily examined rigour. I would have liked to have written about depression and mental health, sharing some of my story, telling people stuck in exams that there is always light, whether they are re-sitting something they missed or just over-reacting to a first exam. I would have liked to remind my younger self, and the echoes of him I see in many, that there is more to life than exams, but that education matters. I would have liked to have written to Michael Gove and had a pint with him, and talked to him.

There are lots of things I would have liked to have written. And I didn't. And I might yet. But I don't know. What I do know, is that when there is too much to write about, I can only ever write in the light of the One whose story whispers like a piece of thread through this patchwork of ideas. I would have liked to write about Jesus' response to all the angles in each of these things. And I would have liked to write about the fact that Jesus made and loves the people behind the pornography, the sniper-rifles, and the capitalism. Not because of those things, or in spite of those things, but because of who he is.

And if I'd written that, I might have got somewhere. Said something. But I didn't. Maybe I will next time. But don't leave this blog without thinking about that Jesus. The really big, really bold, really good, really radical Jesus. Who can speak into and redeem every situation. Because he is the one, in honesty, about whom there is always too much to write about...