Faith and Web

Friday was a glorious day. As well having perfect autumn weather, a website I’ve been working on for months at last went live. It was a complete redesign for our local Rape & Sexual Center (RASAC).

At first glance I expect many of you won’t connect the dots between a church web diva and a local service agency like this. Nonetheless, the connections are deep and strong. I would never have known of this group if it hadn’t been for my church.

In the early 1990s, ours was one of the many churches torn asunder by allegations of clergy misconduct. Those of us struggling to do the right thing by our faith could find few if any good resources. Into this bleak terrain came RASAC’s counselors. While the congregation’s needs were many, their focus went right to the heart – to those most wounded – to the victims of misconduct. They stood by them and helped the church see what they needed most. They represented one of the few organizations that helped us turn a corner back into a healthy congregation.

More than that, through my church I have learned the importance of social justice. I’ve learned that social justice isn’t always marching in marches. Some of us do that well, while others become ministers or lawyers. Still others teach, inspiring our youth to justice work. And some of us create websites. We grease the wheels of communication – getting the word out to those who need it.

Creating websites is also, inevitably, a learning experience. As I catch my breath, the things I realize I’ve learned from this one are:

1. Be patient. Building even a small website takes time if you want to do a good job. In this case, I unintentionally created one of the longer logjams. The same forces that slowed down this blog also slowed the redesign. But the good people at RASAC were patient and understanding. I hope I was likewise with them.

2. Be appreciative. Their VP of Development & Marketing was the mastermind behind the site, pulling together the content and organizing the structure. She did the crucial work and she did an excellent job – and then sent flowers to me! This was after a small bumpy patch when stakeholders were trying to correct things like word spacing (being in a print paradigm and not realizing it).

3. Express compassion. One of RASAC’s Board counseled me to make the look-and-feel gentle and soothing, so a victim who came to the site wouldn’t be scared away. It’s such a grim subject, but he made me literally see things in a whole different way. And it brought to mind a battered woman whom I heard speak years ago. I’ll never forget her reading Psalm 55 – “Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.” Hence the birds in the upper right corner.

May I help the people who need RASAC find their wings and find peace.

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