2024-06-08 A Meditation on Treacherous Terrain

“3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matt 24:3-14 ESV)

The mind can be coaxed through some very treacherous terrain: to coach and guide ourselves, in our thoughts, in our mindset, in our outlook, is at times through praying for others, to ask if we ourselves could benefit from some outside influence, some pointers shared, some new way of looking at things. That is, we invent postulates and missives, missional intention, class-reckoning theology (as in social class), things that deeply do reassure: it is going to be okay; the Christian is after all more concerned with the dynamic called Forgiveness than in anything else. It is going to be okay.

For, the broken record that plays in our thoughts, knows to nurse us, guiding us, shaping us even around those thoughts we avoid, even around those painful memories, even around harm we’ve met out our had meted out our way. Loss of massive enterprise, and we then asked: is it all existential “Bring it on!”, or do we prep ourselves and our reliances on a knowing avoidance mechanism: to avoid the losses, to think sharp and broad around the collections for the saints, the saved-up proximities, littorals of action, the helm in its immediate proximities safeguarded. We need a forgiving mindset so that our courage to say “Bring it here”, “Bring it on”, is also bending over backwards to save as much as possible of the sin-wrecked enterprise. Jesus called it loving our enemies.

For to be that mind submitted to practical or external Fact, is perhaps to be a bit more quick to the draw regarding say the email “Send”: “Got your message, will respond in time”. The fact of us sitting around for hours and for years awaiting some message that another, bogged down in cisterns and caverns, can not as of yet send, is a fact of how we benefit from the communal meeting, the boardroom dialog, the listening ear for what another’s mindset and experience brings to the table. It is going to be okay. We can talk through the differences of what we avoid thinking through, and what we relish and soothe ourselves with; ideas themselves the drug and the broken record existential place. Now, having evoked this, the responsible use of words not to throw away what has surfaced.

It is going to be okay. Repentance—and its partner, forgiveness—does have a flipside due to the Resurrection of our sin-sacrifice, Christ. The theology of certain class-based distinctions being nigh impossible to overcome, nonetheless also promises that to make good in what digs we find ourselves, that is, herein to find our joy and patience, is the best remedy; do not worry to confront directly Differences of estate; and ask yourself, this business of an Estate itself: is it honest as to the obstacles that the bystander experiences, to the hatred and the class-based ignorance? To the fact they are lying to themselves about how kind and open-minded they are? To the fact life isn’t a view from atop a benign and neutral perch, but rather life is asking: how do you handle the situation of trauma? Of loss? Of radical reshapings? How, after all, do you explain who and what you are, both being submissive unto Christ, but also not backing down to a belligerent enemy?

All ideas welcome! All input coveted! All mindsets Honest, that insane courses have been indulged, with nary a thought for the consequences… and yet too the Doctrine is ours to own: that Christ died for sin; that we all of us are Recipients of this Promised Grace; that tomorrow we shall be arm-in-arm with the brethren, with the sistren, around an Estate shared and beloved, called the Body, and called the People who comprise it.

We shy away from some thoughts, and we keep a personal storyline of the more favorable routine. In the final issue there is accounting in play: some would have us perennially at the confessional: for our youth is dastardly and sinful. Yet to ask: can we together rise up forgiven? Can we be meek as to our destiny, but bold as to Christ’s mercy? Can we point out, on behalf of someone else, that what in fact is hated is not sin—each of us learns on our mother’s or father’s knee of who we are in life and how we fall away, and this education we allot time and years unto those whom we naturally love or care for then to learn and explore—but rather what is hated is the discomfort or conviction that someone else’s life inspires. It hurts to see some people, whom society irks away from, on the mend, on the make, healed and daring to show up at the Faith gathering.

But also it is a puzzle, and what is meant is that it takes external Aid, Dialog, Boardroom Repartee, to tell the right story: the alternative is so easy, and—wow—does Christ’s judgment take no prisoners. Wow, does it call for real boots-on-the-ground levels of all-goodness Standards held high. Boots-on-the-ground: did you know that choice of church to attend would judge you and set you careening on a predetermined, unavoidable, lifelong path unto some… damnation? Or conversely that some kind act to a stranger, would forever teach you the Grace of thinking like both of you thought in that moment? In some world we envision, all would be accountable for what is done in their good name, and that includes done in the good name of the church. Mercy to each of us, if such a judgment came to pass.