Rain, and newsprint, and Grace

The sky continues to lighten behind the steadily falling rain outside. It's rained here more in the past week than it usually does in a month. I still have the trailing edge of the sinus bug, but I can live with stuffed sinuses more easily than with the mental haze of a fever, and anyway I'm trying not to bitch about such things.

Last night was our first Production Night of the year. We were missing a couple editors, but by and large, it's a good crowd. We staged and shot the cover (listed as a "photo illustration," rather than a photo) around a noise violation story, News and Scene continued what looks like it's going to be a more or less permanent friendly rivalry, the idea of a newsroom D&D group was thrown around... and we all got out in time to catch Breaking Bad.

The sermon yesterday was strong. Challenging. Not even remotely comfortable, and I do mean that as a compliment. Because of the nature of mankind, it can be really easy - it is really easy - to set ourselves on the side of Lazarus, nod sagely, and stand around discussing the wicked rich man. Yesterday, our priest focused instead on what he saw as the focal point of the parable: the chasm. The chasm between rich and poor, commonly called an income gap, that we have generally decided is beyond our power to do anything about. "What kind of a heart must this man have had, to walk by Lazarus every day, with the dogs licking at his sores, and not even see him?" Which, when followed by a point about the learned ability to walk past homeless people without even seeing them, and winding up resenting them for their existence infringing on your own comfortable reality...

It was the kind of sermon that you're grateful closes with something like "and this is why, in prayer, we say 'We have sinned against you in thought and in deed, in things done and left undone,' so that we can acknowledge our shortcomings and, through grace, work towards being better."

I'm paraphrasing and bastardizing. Point is, grace is important and every now and then or every day constantly or whenever, it's good to be reminded why we need it. Not just as forgiveness, but as a bridge to be better.

There's a long thought in the works about sacraments, and how and (possibly) why I have been struggling with their concept. But that's for later, I think. Enjoy the week's morning, internets.