[Magdalen] Talk for St. George's Cathedral, All Saints Celtic service

[Sally Davies]

I started, around 1997, with literature lists: merelewis; tolkien,
alt.pratchett.  I soon wanted more and moved onto Propertalk.

Those were the days when anything took so long to load, that I used to sit
with my copy of whatever I was reading on my lap. The modem would make its
friendly, little trill and gradually, the curtain lifted on a whole new
world. Like Molly, for me it was a revelation that "church" could also be
this. Fellowship could be this, in fact fellowship SHOULD be this.

I can't remember how I drifted into Magdalen but am fairly sure it was
through deliberately searching Anglicans Online. I may have bumbled into St
Sams at some stage, but retreated, abashed and overwhelmed. I'm not a
person for "big churches" in timeline-life and apparently not in online
life either. I like the idea of the Pub, and still do.

Since then so much has happened: wireless, Facebook, multiple devices.
Instead of sitting in a draughty study in front of a desktop computer with
backache and a mouse, I sit on my sofa in the lounge, cat at my side, TV in
the background. Or in my car, waiting to pick up the kids - that hasn't yet
changed though they are much taller.

Friends have departed for other media, or in some cases for other shores
not of this world. They beckon; and seem as alive as they ever did, because
for me they always lived mainly through their words, which still speak. In
some cases, Facebook still tells me about their birthdays, and sometimes I
forget they're gone. The veil is thin around here.

I cannot say how much I love you all and what your daily and
nightly company means to me...there are no words. But reading Molly's
tribute to online community brought tears to my eyes - tears of joy and
recognition. If there are tears in heaven, they will surely be of that
exact kind.

Sally D

On Monday, November 2, 2015, Marion Thompson <marionwhitevale at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Yes, of course, American.edu.  Accurate recall is no longer my forte.  I
> probably didn't take much notice of the address that was keeping me in
> touch, but I certainly remember the people. :-)  When I moved, I had to
> junk about a foot high pile of posts I had kept for one reason or another.
>
> Marion, a pilgrim    ... today my sail I lift ....
>
> On 11/1/2015 5:34 PM, Sibyl Smirl wrote:
>
>> On 11/1/15 4:16 PM, Marion Thompson wrote:
>>
>>> I came in via Anglican.edu which I joined in spring of 1993.  I don't
>>> think I was ever on St. Sam's.
>>>
>>
>> I think you mean "American.edu"?  That was the ADDRESS of Anglican List,
>> that is "Anglican at American.edu" (using a server at American University)
>> until just shortly after I joined it, a matter of months, when Charles
>> moved us en masse to his server, with an address of StSams.org.  For you,
>> it would have been more than four years. I think I remember you for a lot
>> longer time than those few months, so you must have moved with us.  "Today
>> my sail I lift"?
>>
>>
>>
>