One of the strange phenomena which blogs have perhaps not created but have certainly helped to propagate is the armchair reformer who mistakes opining about things for actually making a difference.  I have been fascinated over the years to see the advice that is given to churches and to institutions by those who have never actually had to hold any position of responsibility nor  make any difficult decision or who, when they did, actually committed all the sins and more of those they now criticize so freely.   

A few years ago an administrator friend at a seminary found himself the subject of constant attention by one such figure.  He always seemed to know what the administrator should do, had an uncanny ability to know what had happened in meetings at which he was not present, and always knew exactly where the administrator had gone wrong. 

The critic was a former employee of some seniority who would have had many chances to change things, or at least organize opposition, while on the payroll.  Thus, the administrator pointed out to him that many of things which he disdained and which he criticized had actually come about while he was happily drawing his salary from the seminary and enjoying a position of seniority; and he politely asked him if he could point to any place in the minutes of any of the faculty meetings at the seminary during that time where he had made a stand on the issues on which the new regime was apparently proving so inadequate.    The critic responded curtly that the administrator simply did not understand how things operated. End of conversation.  Some years on, I believe the administrator is still waiting to be directed to the `minutes of [name supplied]'s glorious revolution' as he now likes to call them.  The smart money is on them being stored in the Holy Grail, buried in El Dorado or guarded by the Rhinemaidens for safe keeping. 

Thinking over this story taught me an important lesson: there are tough guys and there are fluff guys.  The fluff guys, rather like eunuchs, are often quite brilliant.  They also (like eunuchs) know what should be done, how it should be done and who should be doing it but are sadly not actually capable of doing it themselves.  The tough guys may not be perfect and may never achieve all that they hope to achieve. Calvin managed what?  Maybe 70% of what he really wanted in Geneva?   But they do actually do some reformation, they have the backbone to sit in meetings, say unpopular things to the face of those who oppose them, and take the consequent hits; they take personal risks with their careers for the sake of making a difference; they do not simply talk about reformation from the safe distance provided by the internet.  Talk is fun; the internet is a hobby; only action makes a difference.