This is where reconcilliation lies

At mass today, the NT reading was from Phillipians 3 and the Gospel reading was the story of the adulterous women.  Working off of those passages, Father made the most powerful connection related to reconcilliation that I’ve heard in a long time.  He said that only at the place where forgiveness and sorrow intersect will reconcilliation lie. He talked about how Christ will wipe away our sins and we can give/ask for forgiveness amongst our brothers and sisters, but if there is no sorrow, there will be no reconcilliation or moving forward towards the goal.  Without sorrow, he said, you will only be forgiven.  Nothing will change, nothing will be reconciled.  Instead of moving forward, you will find yourself back in the same place, once again asking to be forgiven for the same sins. 

I thought about this throughout mass and my whole walk home.  When Father was talking about reconcilliation, I got the definite impression that he was not talking about simply setting this right.  He spoke of a reconcilliation that was not about making things okay, but making things whole.

I’ve always been one to tackle and resolve conflict as quickly as possible.  I wanted forgiveness to take place and for things to be smoothed over and made right.  The problem is that, especially when I was the one in the wrong, I tried resolve the conflict long before any sense of sorrow could set in.  And really, the resolution wasn’t about change or moving forward.  It was about fixing things so we could go back to life as usual. 

Then I thought about the one or two relationships in my life where genuine, heart-ache, humbling sorrow has intersected with forgiveness.  They have been relationships that have only found (or will find) wholeness because the Holy Spirit has stepped in, much like Christ stepped in to save the adulterous woman.  It’s such a long process though, because I think both sides of the conflict have to arrive at that intersection.  Maybe once we arrive there and the other person hasn’t, maybe Christ has worked it out so that we can remain grounded in that intersection yet move forward and change.  Then when the other person arrives there too, we can come back, a changed person, more ready to cry out for reconcilliation than ever. 

XYZ PDQ

XYZ PDQ. That’s what my mom taught us when we were kids. I know a guy who taught his son to say, “Hey, look at the duck!” in order to distract people from the ‘issue’. Personally, I prefer to give the eye and the nod. If that fails I’ll mouth or whisper, “check your fly.”

Part of me wishes someone would have done that for me today. Part of me is glad they didn’t, because my fly wasn’t actually down. I had to take my jeans to the dry cleaner because the zipper needed to be replaced. When they replaced it, they must have done something funky because now the flappy thing over the zipper sits wide open.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware of this until about 5:30 this evening. Several times prior to 5:30, I sensed people of both genders looking at me oddly, their eyes persistently floating downward. I didn’t know what the deal was. I kept checking to make sure I wasn’t flashing to much skin.

Then at about 5:30 I went to apply for a part-time job. As I talked with the manager and then handed her my application, I sensed that she too was looking up and down my body kind funny. I just assumed she had poor communication skills. When I got out side, I was kind of tugging my shirt down, when I realized I’d been walking around all day long with my jeans looking like this…

Yeah, 6-11 upset

 Can I please tell the world that I picked VCU over Duke?!  I took heat for this, but there were several reasons behind it.

1. VCU has been playing tough the last half of the season.  I’ve only seen scores, but I’ve been impressed.
2. Duke has been playing not to lose all season.  When it comes to crunch time, I’ll take the fired up little guy over the cocky, kind of nervous hot shot any day of the week.
3. Being a pseudo Carolina fan, I am partially required to hate Duke.
4. If I didn’t have a rivalry reason to hate Duke, I’d hate them anyway because they are dirty, dirty arrogant ball players whose coach signs commercial deals.  (Find a way to watch somewhere between the 10th and 12th minutes of the second half.  I’d make a case for adding racist to my list of Duke descriptors, but the ref probably deserves that tag as much as anything.

All you will probably hear from me in the next couple of weeks will probably be basketball related.  Just a warning.   Also, a specific warning to any Carolina fans in the general Balkan area, I had to hold myself back from calling in the middle of the night to tell you about this game.  It may be even harder for me to resist if Michigan State upsets Roy’s team.

If you have $10…

 

If you have $10 burning a hole in your pocket, you must buy Mary Chapin Carpenter’s latest album, The Calling.  Patty’s latest made me all warm inside; Chapin made me cry, clench my fists and sigh deeply.   It’s very, very good stuff.   I will, however, admit my bias.  This woman’s music has been walking me through life since 8th grade.