Where is Jesus in Tensegrities?

One of my students confronted me today about this weblog (there was just a brief article that mentioned it, in our school’s magazine). She wanted to know how I could claim that it expressed my living into the “tensegrity” of media and religion, when it so rarely uses theological language. To put it bluntly, she said, where is Jesus in your weblog? I have to admit to being taken aback, just a bit. On the one hand, I was pleased that she felt free enough and respected enough, to ask me directly. On the other hand, I could feel my own internal frustration rising at the oft-heard refrain — “where is Jesus?”

I don’t know if it’s a difference between Catholic and Lutheran environments, or between evangelical and other Christian environments, but I don’t often assume that I can know “where Jesus is.” My own theological framework argues, based on biblical evidence, I suppose, that Jesus is most likely to be found on the margins. And I certainly believe that one of the things I try and do in this weblog is point to articles, websites, and other pieces that lift up issues that engage the margins of our cultural spaces.

Still, that response didn’t satisfy her, and I left our brief exchange feeling like I had somehow “failed” a theological test. There may be no specific way to “pass” her test, but I think her question is a valid one. What makes this weblog, Tensegrities, about being a person of faith living in global media culture? Ultimately, it’s a personal journal written by one person of faith — myself — who is deeply committed to living in the heart of Christianity, and to living that faith in the midst of global media culture. Since my faith is so much a part of who I am, it is woven deeply throughout all of my choices. When I write with passion about the primary elections, for instance, it’s not because I think that partisan politics is the only way to live out one’s faith, but because my faith calls me to live in a way that supports justice in whatever way I can manage to do so. I am convinced that living in a democracy means being actively involved in that democracy, and that doing so involves making just choices.

I suspect though, that one other reason my student doesn’t like this weblog, is that I don’t write very often about my own explicit faith experiences. I suppose partly I don’t feel any pressing need to do so — I have lots of opportunities to talk about those experiences, whereas the other things I share in this journal do not find as large an audience in my workplace — but I think I’m also just more reticent about sharing such experiences without doing so in person. And I wonder what that means? Something for me to ponder…