20 YEARS, WHERE'D THEY GO? 20 YEARS, I DON'T KNOW...

ANYONE WHO KNEW ME IN MY UPPER-ELEMENTARY THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL DAYS KNEW PRETTY QUICKLY I WAS A HUGE FAN OF BOBBY KNIGHT AND THE INDIANA HOOSIERS. My parents still remember when we went out to eat the night of the 1987 Final Four that I was mesmerized by the TV behind the bar that was showing the game.

I also remember quite clearly the weekend afternoon in 2000 where Erin and I were hanging out in my dorm and I got word to tune in because Coach Knight had been fired by IU. I was truly heartbroken, for I felt it was a shame this man was not going to ride out of Assembly Hall after wrapping up his coaching career. 

For the next two decades, Coach Knight never returned to Assembly Hall. As many of us understood it, he never WAS going to return to Assembly Hall.

And, yet, as time moved forward, as entreaties were made from IU administration that were not part of his dismissal, as he moved back to Bloomington in the summer of 2019, as former players encouraged him to come back, there was still grave concern that he never would bring himself to set foot back in the place.

Finally, as Indiana prepared to honor the 1980 team that won the Big Ten championship, and former players from other teams were going to be on hand for the festivities, word leaked out there was a possibility that Coach would finally come home.

While I did not get word in time to watch it live, when I got the chance to see the festivities, it was apparent the amount of love the IU community had for Coach Knight, and the love he had for all present as well as the building where he made so many memories. I was almost teary-eyed as I saw the pure joy in Coach Knight reveling in this reunion, surrounded by so many great players.

I also felt in there a sense of relief. Finally, the hatchet was buried.

I could not stop thinking about the church as I watched this amazing scene unfold, for we are about being people who forgive, who reconcile, who welcome home those who have been gone so long. We are in the business of encouraging people to set aside past bitterness and seek reconciliation, much as Coach Knight's former players worked behind the scenes to help make it happen. The church exists to be a place where people can find forgiveness and reconciliation, to facilitate reconciliation amongst each other, and to preach the reconciliation God has offered us in Jesus Christ and empowered through us by the Holy Spirit.

With whom do you need to reconcile? Who is it that you need to forgive? Who's forgiveness do you need to seek? What might the gift of reconciliation do to you or those you love? 

Grace and Peace,
Lamar

P.S. Bonus points for anyone who can recall (from memory - no Googling) the title of the song from which I drew the title of today's message, and the artist who originally released said song.