You may have noticed that the “About” page in the menu bar is, well, blank. In part this is due to my being occupied with other things of late, but it is also blank because I’m finding that it is a more challenging question to answer than I had expected.

What can be said about the expression of our OC/IC tradition as found in this small community? How do we see ourselves situation in relation to the wider movement? What, if any contribution to the development of our tradition are we striving to make?

You would think – having been around for almost 20 years that answering this seemingly simple question would be . . . well simple. Fifteen years ago I think, in hindsight, it would have been easy for me to produce a list, a page of bullet pointed talking points summarising what we are about. Today, however, I like to think that I’m a bit more thoughtful, and through the practice of, and adherence to our OC/IC tradition, I have come to appreciate the complexity of our sacramental Christianity. The faith we practice, in the tradition we adhere to, is not simple – it cannot be reduced to a black and white list of propositions and declarations; it demands a better answer, one that respects not only our contemporary expression of the OC/IC heritage, but which also respects the intelligence of the reader.

So, rather than attempt a one page summary, or a “Mission Statement” or some other redacted, over simplified bit of management-speak we’ll be developing a collection of essays dealing with subjects that we think, make us who we are as a community. They will not be produced in any particular order. Each one will be posted here – in the main blog – to encourage you, readers in the wider OC/IC community to share your own answer to that particular subject. Hopefully it will prove to be a means of cultivating conversations among those of us in the movement – as we share our own reflections and stories.