Simple Sign of Contradiction

20 + C + M + B + 11

Time again to find the blessed chalk!  Starting a new year with the house blessing - not just a blessing, but a daily reminder of our call to live as a sign of contradiction.  And a bit of a tool for evangelization - "What does the equation above your door mean?"  "Well, . . ."

It's funny how some people can find this so odd.  (And, in fact, how some people who live at this address can still be somewhat embarrassed - after so many years - by a pious custom that is not particularly well known.  As though Mom had been caught sprinkling brick dust about the threshold.*)  We see lots of cars with those goofy tinkling cartoon kids and ribald bumper stickers.  No one takes much notice.  And how common is it to see young girls with words like JUICY emblazoned on their derrieres?  But with a simple blessing and symbolic chalk marks we're the odd ones.  So be it.

*"On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, get up before dawn without speaking to anyone and wash your doorstep with your own Urine in a bucket of water. When it dries, sprinkle red brick dust across the doorstep. To make the wash stronger, write the Name of the Captain of Police on paper, burn the Name-Paper to ashes, and add the ashes to your scrub water. Business Money Scrub: Mix Red Dust, Cinnamon powder, and Brown Sugar into water and scrub the doorstep inward for quick, continuous cash."   Seriously?  But that's Hoodoo.  Hoodoo gets you in the Wall Street Journal.  And some other places.