The reading from Isaiah talks about reconciliation—getting back into synchronization, getting rid of the unnecessary and unimportant. Quite often we say we will get on the right path—look at all those New Year’s resolutions we make! But often in our path to a more direct, more appropriate way of living, we fall into the habit of making the pronouncement without considering the acts that need to accompany them. It’s easy to talk the talk; it’s more challenging to walk the walk. When the question of reconciliation goes out in Isaiah, the answer comes back as a wake-up call: atonement is a matter of: