Reverend Ref +

CATCH 22

The little ado that has been floating around this area of the blogiverse can pretty much be summed up as follows: I preached a sermon about weeds and wheat; Shari didn't like it; I wrote a letter to Shari; she responded.

Okay, there's more to it than that, and if you want to follow up, you can go several places for some more ins and outs; such as here, here, here, here, here, and here, among other places that aren't too hard to figure out.

In my most recent posting, I said, "I do not ask that you change your views; I only ask that you be willing to acknowledge and appreciate our differences, and, in that acknowledgment, share a Eucharistic meal with me knowing that we are both children of God, loved by the One who created us both."

Shari's response was . . . . well . . . . long, well thought out, and I appreciate her taking the effort to put her thoughts into a post. However, never did she address that particular quote, and she never stated as to whether or not she would be willing to do this. What she did do was to continue to hammer away at various bloggers for their cowardice, placing sentiments over human beings, ignorance, busyness, and intentional silence.

Where am I going with all of this? I am realizing that I have been placed in a Catch 22. Should I preach a sermon about weeds and wheat, I am -- for lack of a better term -- attacked for calling conservatives 'weeds' while ignoring liberals. Should I choose not to post my thoughts about a particularly nasty situation -- such as the current mess in CT -- because I'm not up to speed on the details, I am labeled ignorant. Should I post a letter laying out my position on what constitutes my roots and invite people with different positions to be willing to share a Eucharistic meal, then I am indicted of placing sentiment over people.

Much of this has moved from discussion and debate to simply, as I see it, "You don't agree with everything I say, therefore you are wrong, bad, evil, hypocritical, pathetic (use your own descriptor here)." It occurs to me that no matter what I say or how I reply, that answer will be picked apart in an effort to show where I am wrong. Nothing I say will ever be good enough, informed enough, brave enough, right enough. I'm not interested in that type of discussion.

I will continue to post sermons and thoughts as I see fit; afterall, it is my blog. And through it all, please feel free to comment. Feel free to pick me apart. Feel free to tell me how and where I am wrong. Feel free to accuse me of bias. I will look forward to reading your comments, taking them in and pondering your thoughts in a continual effort to learn about opposing viewpoint. But I will not always respond; I will not play the Catch 22 game.

Peace