2025-02-11 A Meditation on Storm Blasts

“5 And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, 6 “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” 7 And they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” 8 And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. 9 And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.” 10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. 12 But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. 13 This will be your opportunity to bear witness. 14 Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. 17 You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.” (Luke 21:5-19 ESV)

Shadowing effects, blast radius, the Spiritual is the Unstable is the Inchoate is the Forward Perch. After all, it all seemed exciting: it seemed a new leaf turned over, called Conversion, called Baptism in the Spirit, called Coming to Jesus. Yet there we then were, at a forward position and at a declarative War with subtle and not-so-subtle Thoughts: the high-pitched Alert as bomb blast shakes us from our Meditative, Searching, Inquisitive Calm. We are suddenly thrust into this Testimonial Outlay or that Testimonial Outlay. We are suddenly learnt to “Go with the flow”, that is, that Hegemony and Ownership and Belonging most divine is ours to step gingerly over and around, like a mine-field owned, like a shadow-lands bested, like a no-man’s-land Trooped Upon.

We warm to the Distraction and the Interruption, the high tonality of the Alert and the deaf and hard-of-hearing momentarily ears ringing: but after all, our Christ is game for the hour. Our Christ is putting on a bit of a show, though at core Conversational and Managerial around that deeper Quest, questions of God-with-us, of God-our-conquering-King, of This Too Shall Pass. He went to the Cross meek and wondrous, calm yet disturbed, peace yet worried: Am I, after all this, Saved? Where is O God the Father? All circuits spell Submission, Surrender, Relinquishing of the Spirit, dying a bit less headstrong and brave to boast.

After all, what if all Jesus did was, as the crucifiers said, an affront against proper Authority and Civil Obedience? What if theirs was the final voice? What if He was a presumptuous sot, and a grandiose Failure? What if, only by Dying and Failing could He reach those soldiers gathered around the Cross? For to them, too, He may have been sent. To them, as well, He may have not spurned the Call and Vocation of Dying a martyred, failed, dreamer.

The Christian is in a forward position. The Christian is suddenly surrounded by a spell-binding Prayer of the angels and the saints, of the Spirit with us in light of a spiritual tragedy underway: the prayer for that forward Saint called each of us believers, is a prayer toned with Tragedy and with Despair, hopeful that we will survive but also mourning an absolute Loss. That we are walking a mourned-over New, Resurrected, potentiality. Saddened by Christ’s own life lost (think of the books that would have been written!), certain of the Saint’s own life gained (think of the winsome Hope around Knowing, Witnessing, what our Father and Son and Spirit might have willed for the world!), but all that in low and humble Guise. The prayer-warrior low and humble, teetering around a Bedrock or Foundational or Sublime talking point and walking gait. Joyous, yet in mind of a National Tragedy. It is, after all, overcome, but see His wounds! See His crying loss! See His Promise of a New Day, which Day shall provide for our need for Salvation writ large, in the community, in our midst, a Second Coming Imminent. And will He, in that Coming, be beleaguered anew, or bold and triumphant? Such mysteries are not logically-deduced but rather are answered by Aware Prayer: God with us, always is a Successful Maneuver and Battle-Plan. If nothing else, we shall be happy for that hour. We shall Win and Gain and Arise victorious in that hour.