2023-02-28 A Meditation on Recalling the Call

“But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Pe 3:13 ESV)

Flat-lined, we sift through myriad deadening things, discouragement, forgetfulness of the mission plan. The mission is sharp and when we’ve tapped into it, many avenues show forth. Avenues of life under that mission statement, where we simply have the confidence, yes, what we have needs to be shared. Yes, what we’ve heard needs to be shared. Yes, we are being called from wherever we are, to shine forth.

To have a mission statement is to live in a future space that today is informing polite but firm discourse. The preaching, words of fellowshipping, these inform and these bless us with a sense of continuity, life together under statement of mission. We are those who see the future mission playing out this day. We are those possessed of no demon but rather of a tactile fact: Jesus touched us spiritually, and today our heart yearns to celebrate and worship in form, to share and disciple in form, to debate and discern in form.

And the lugubrious malaise. Forgetful, we pray for a new Word to penetrate our hearts. We pray for recollection that neither are we without friend nor are we without foe, in this our mortal sojourn. It is too easy to go “all or nothing”: either everything is good and kosher, or everything reflects an errant spirit. Many are those who are tinged with unrepentance, or, let us be honest, lack of a preaching spirit to convict their hearts. They are neither here nor there, friendly but not quite bold to discern Gospel avenues. Polite, but not quite brazen to support the Gospel cause. Doing lip service, but not quite elevating the meek or the downtrodden passed over by the masses.

Such an errant spirit may have gone before us with plausible explanations and gossip, but no matter: in good time Jesus will verify in the eyes of a willing crowd, our belonging in the gospel church, our contrition already made, our continuing walk of penitence and joy. Our friendship with those of better repute or integration in the Body.

In the language of Christ, to overcome is to be situated near to prayer, near to fellowship, near to the Gospel. If it seems plausible that we are still “seeking”, all the more is it occasion for faith that, one day, our labors in the Lord shall not have been in vain. One day, we shall be given a reputation of wearing a heavenly mantle. One day, we shall be excited on behalf of this our neighbor in the pews, who is today a bit delighted in the Lord. One day, our reverent worship shall be heard, not just On High, but as guidepost to the many. Who sit near to us. Who heard the plausible dismissal of anything that might be sharp or decisive. For our churches are more like society generally than they are like theological outposts: the theology tells us that God-things are done in submissive hearts, but society longs for “might makes right”, and for the usual prizes or tasks.

Nightmare and frightened bravado: our bravado takes us to places of sketchy associations, strange friends and foes near to the ones we approach with friendship, because we were daring and brave, because we put aside the frightened cry, and lived into the dream, as our coming-of-age, our turning over of a new leaf, our realization that some things call for more, not less, enthusiasm. More, not less, teamwork. More, not less, simple faith that good things are done by people made good by Jesus. So we dwell secure, not willing to offend against all that is holy, not offending against law and its order, but as for this house, still dwelling determinedly in Gospel truth. That the mission statement is made incarnate in the souls put on the line, the adherents to the Cause, the servant-minded helper and advocate. We meditate for a moment, and then go “all in”: we rediscover word and argument, reason and fight, legacy and duty. We are sharpened like a two-edged sword, in the community at prayer, the prayed-for community that is getting there but not yet simply Gospel; that is making urgent moves, but still hung up on sin that distracts.

In the language of Christ and of our mission statement, it can invite investment from the community, who sees in us not a whipping boy or girl, but hopes that just as Jesus came to the people, our own testimony will come through. The bishop sees through their slightly more obsessive or focused sense of calling the call to be the one who helps us find our good word, find our penitential cry, find our submission to authority put on test and display. Not that the discipler is themselves free of sin, but that they are willing to let the penitential walk belong to us. That is, that we are the one prodded and tested in former times, that we may be blessed and a blessing as we look to the future.