Anonymity

I didn't go to church this past Sunday! :0

I was away from home again this weekend and the timing and planning just didn't work out. I toyed with the idea of going to a Wednesday evening service or watching a taped service online. But it just wouldn't be the same.

So I'm confessing my sin of having dropped the ball this time ... and moving on.

I'll do a couple general posts in the meantime. I have some thoughts on some topics that I need to address anyway.

First, anonymity.

I know I have a few loyal readers who read my blog because they know me and have some measure of sincere interest in me. My friends, my family, friends of my family, my nemesis, the cast of Glee, the Pope, etc.

But I really don't want my identity to be open book to anyone else who learns about my bodily existence through this site (whether it's someone from a church I've visited or someone who randomly happens upon the site via the internet or someone who finds one of my new mysterious Faith Appeal cards tossed away in a street somewhere and decides to take a gander.)

I'd prefer to remain unknown.

I'm aware that anonymity is not normal in the Great Era of Social Media. In a time when everyone who's ANYone is plastering tweets and facebook wall posts about every hour on the World Wide Web ... wanting to stay invisible is just plain weird.

But I have chosen to call myself the Newcomer and use a separate email account to correspond with the churches I have visited anyway.

Am I paranoid??? NOOOOO!! Why would you ask that? Do I come off as paranoid somehow??

No, I'm also not vain enough to think that anyone would genuinely care what my name is even if I did include it.

It's simply that my anonymity is an integral part of this project. I am the newcomer. I could be sitting right next to you in church next Sunday. I could be that stranger you get to use the Golden Rule on, or not. And you'll probably not see me again. I could be the calculator of that all too unfair and hasty first impression that inevitably has to be made. I'm a phantom guest, as the Massachusetts Council of Churches called me on their facebook page.

And ok, maybe a part of me is hoping that this will take off, which would shed a whole new light on the pros of anonymity. And ok, maybe that makes me a little vain after all. But who isn't?