“35 And he said to them, “When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.”” (Luke 22:35 ESV)

In a forward position, properly equipped the soldier nonetheless is responsible for their own recognisance: equipment, tools, weapons, doctrine notwithstanding, she or he does well to vibe off of the leaner years, knowing that life blooms all around us all of a sudden: former dubious ones, now encouraging friends.

Yet the observation, that the Bible promises us as much, promises a banquet, promises a homecoming; all this overlooks the harsher realities of the world we live in. That no matter the joy of coming together, that trouble zones cannot be remediated quite so elegantly as we might hope. So we are divided in thought: yes, to the new projects, tasks, waking hours so gainfully employed in spirit, and no, there is no panacea found, no end to the warring madness, no soliloquy for the souls discarded.

How can we hold two notions in mind together? First, the personal struggles we try to voice. That though to our perspective former years… we were just as busy then, in pursuing however idols or empty promises. Then came faith and… the excitement as bursting forth all around us, this was headshaking and a bit sobering: so, all things are indeed on the line this hour. And here: see the toolkit, peace, a religious peace that is nonetheless not religiously abusive or vain. Our religion is a quieter claim; the louder claim is that we not break what Peaceful Estate the world’s living communities dwell in. That we be those in forward position perhaps but responsible for our own decisions, no amount of situational awareness sufficient to answer on our behalf, rather that we trust the Spirit as evidenced in leaner years, in pained encounter with our own repentance, in long hours laboring at the grindstone. 

So to our unwitting Testimony, how we take on faith that simply to shake hands or pass the peace, simply to show a little glimmer of the aged—like a fine delicacy or wine—mature faith expression, this we have learned insofar as our own melancholic removal from the situation, may have seeded something. Something spiritual. Something of a call to shepherd and parent and midwife into the world a creature New and beloved, promised so much, upheld in the faith.