“12 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Gifts of Grace 3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. Marks of the True Christian 9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:1-21 ESV)

Revelation comes to the student of management as to anyone: it isn’t simply a matter of “praying more”. The revelation may often be that the mechanisms just aren’t in place, even for the Good Corporation, to get certain things done. That is, whether as a political bent or just a rancher’s, tech mogul’s, subtle financier’s structural arrangement, the employee is given a bit more License and Trust than even they might themselves ask for. Because discipline… it is checked up on, say, weekly, daily, hourly, and that loop for feedback, just isn’t part of the design. It isn’t part of the design to be coddled. Whether we trust ourselves or not, others rely on our Corporate Citizenship Badge: to be the good Employee; to wage the good Warfare; to strike the right Notes. 

Strangely poised, then, as if dropped in native rebirth experience, from a high aloft aircraft, or pushed out of the nest, a bit exciting and a bit daring, the Composure and the Experience. Others’ existential question: why? Why is it done this way? Teach us! Is met with that prayer warrior’s realization, or the realization of a good night shooting pool with the fellows or girls. The revelation of an aha moment. That the Good Corporation has forbidden zones, things it simply cannot quite do, no matter how seeming simple. Name that cannot be risked. Business that cannot be engaged. Pecuniary concern that cannot be raised. God the Father, too, really trusts us His people, with a sense of relativity unto just who He Himself is. We cannot help but be held High and Upbuilt, Aloft and Created, creme de la creme, cream of wheat and Utmost for His Highest. Notwithstanding the numerous “ideas”, the forgetful “repetitions” of wishful thinking: enough, for us this day, is the chance to Dream and Believe that all of it is coming to pass on some invisible level. That is reward in and of itself.

The soldier is not fanciful in thought, rather, dreams are parables and what-if’s, scenarios where the style is just right, the parts just fit, the master-servant, teacher-pupil, Mighty-One-Enlistee relationship is wildly successful, oiled and minting Disciples. Too, our daring slog takes us to the embrace of a religion easily relegated to history or to other folks. To be respectable as those who uphold the Lord’s Name as Holy, is to appeal across the aisle to folks of other religious bent. More, the Holy Wars as in times past, are not about works-versus-faith, not about the Virgin Birth, not about the Trinitarian nature of Christ, but about the Real Presence in the sacraments. A subtle if not impossible doctrine, at least as far as pinpointing it as our point of contention. 

Because real presence echoes the immutability of the ordained Priest. Who has a magician’s touch in making things Real and Present, according to some. More, that the sacrifice of Christ is repeated on that altar. In any case, bleating lambs and unworried sheep, flocks Trusting and Weaned from mother’s milk, know the Good Shepherd of their souls. They sense a vacuous Space in which to Operate, not because Father in Heaven doesn’t care, but because the mechanisms aren’t in place to coddle and dote over every sheep. The crazy ideas… they will make liable the Good Corporation. Kept hungry, kept borderline insane, the Advocate for God Talk is each of us, who are a personally recognisant sort of Hero. Each one, heroic and Enlisted, signed on the dotted line, that we have outgrown childish complaints reckoned towards the faith, and manned-up to be Salt and Light. To realize some sagacity to Scripture. To learn from revered parent or teacher, how we live into the call to forgive one another and live into the call to Bless.

Prayer echoes across boundaries wherein the happy-go-lucky citizen of Heaven is still forgetful of what silent Pleading is aimed their way, that a missing link would be acted upon, that a deed that the Good Corporation cannot muster, would begin to be executed in their recognisance. That people would dialog and be minus imposition, minus artifice, minus curmudgeonly reclusive hate. We are called to talk things through: always, perhaps, there is a word that is both helpful and somewhat safe. To greet one another, just a bit. To drink the Kool-Aid and See: Christ’s life for our silly omissions and commissions. Yes, Jesus is present in our corporation, in our sacraments, in our Togetherness. Yes, He is a bit pained but joyous. Yes, His crutches are falling away and His trek across the Tribe and City is landing safe amidst the slog and the luscious nature of Man’s safe places and weaknesses. It is a radical God we serve, who knows Man’s rejection of His fellow Man, but who also knows of Beauty originating in simple deeds.