“12 For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.” (Rom 2:12-16 ESV)

In the vast realm of human experience, to cubbyhole someone is to get exasperated and say, it should have been obvious. The strange elixir called forgiveness allows for some wild alternate explanation that gives us pause. Only gives us pause: maybe, despite my scapegoating and search for an excuse, just maybe so-and-so were themselves invested, got hurt, were caught, by the shenanigans as they unfolded.

In the vast realm of human experience we are warmed, reading or hearing some “Words from the well”, because it was, after all, a wild jaunt undertaken when first we came to believe: “Urgency, around here, I’ve got a congregation to return to!” “Urgent, around here, I love the labors for the official Body, but those will have to wait!”. It is, after all, a sense of Call that each of us warms to, the willingness to be fully invested and Company Man or Woman.

To be that company man or woman is to walk a weird angle of things formerly tolerated now obsessed over, even though we may ourselves be innocent, pity the ambitious first one to speak up and say “Not it!”. That we aren’t struggling as others may be, with manifest sin in the pastor’s life. Or that we’ve turned a corner: I well know I am sinful, but no time to wallow or ask permission!

Because we were obtuse and misfit to the greater Body until such time as our own people and our own congregation were satiated: here, the Word is preached. And the greatest error the church makes is to assume that outsiders are more manifestly sinful than insiders. Both parties need absolution, the latter a bit more so because they are in possession of the Law.

Therefore we can greet with optimism the movers and shakers of the church Body, despite all the mess that a church turns out to be. The attention-grabbing. The loving to hear oneself speak. The blame game. The denial. The salacious ventures. We are after all Ready now, to work on a game called Official, the Official church, though not having all the answers. Though seeing things in the past dealt with by not making a fuss.

Contrast to a lifestyle a bit uptight: we are uptight as churchfolk in order to get our ticket punched. Or rather, if so tempted then we act uptight. The unapologetic Gospel, however, spares no time for frustration or uptightness: we are in possession of a sword called Truth that has turned naysaying to celebration. This means all of us. All of us have the capacity, the innate nature, of Persistence in Joyous mode.

Outlets we have many, but correspondents zero. We are denied the obvious inbox, or Venetian lion’s mouth if you like, when most needed, because life is a mess and is sinful and is not caught up yet to where the Spirit has led His or Her people. We are denied, as those excitedly, newly, found Faithful, the efficient means of turning hearsay, slander, to Message and Salvation. We preach to all who are listening, that God is for us, that we are not relegated to being the cozy pewsitters: either we go full in, or we deny and languish in the corners. And this Message, this Reminder, this faithful Word from the Well, in our own inbox, is one that bears fruit and wings to soar.