“14 The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 16 And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. 17 And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. 18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.” (Mark 5:14-20 ESV)

Christian witness opens up doors to the heart, whether said hearts are nominally faithful or staid churchgoers. More, Christian witness, people bargain with the new believer’s precise claims: lawyers negotiate with half the world around how and to what End the newly-minted faithful are precisely staking claim to a Testimony. But no matter: joy ride, taken for a spin; the heart of the matter to said Newly-Minted one’s testimony, is a level of Agency rather than of mining or forcing reactivity or response.

Agency… the Master in Heaven’s republican decision to Give agency to His people, means that we are not plundered or mined like cogs in a wheel. We have hours of down time. We have soup-to-nuts Managerial—astonishingly managerial—access to various potentates. We write, and things occur; we voyage, and peoples move; we speak, and angst dispels. 

For, what is the stress, the angst, but that Pastor is hemmed up and incommunicado, for a season with scarcely a hint of why. The pastoral response: dude, see your people do heavy-lifting; maybe you, too, can shoulder the trials; not “resign” but also not take a vacation without Clarity and Precision.

To the soldier envisioning vast legions, armies, color-coded people movements, envisioning centuries of fight for the very survival of Man, it all can seem a bit Precious. The fact is, the soldier’s Testimony is not to be negotiated, at least not that alone, to the dismissal of any and all other talking points. No, have a little sense of humor: we all of us can be Prodigals for a day, and enjoy that storyline. All of us adhere to a republican Master’s mindset: be responsible for your own sanity, do not indulge the whining instincts nor appeal to the need to “talk about a few things”; for that, go to prayer; go full-throttle into the milieu that says: Soldier, you are Astonishing in your self-situated, self-reliant, self-individuated Aspects. You are of untold worth and gusto, of incredible Influence and capacity.

And to any and all “surface level” conclusions: where, it is asked in mocking fashion, are your “Friends”? Well, some aren’t with us any more, right? So there’s that. But also, seasons of life come and they go; to have been once Socialized and treated as one of the Gang, is to be satiated and not to need daily outings or coming togethers. That is, our levels of personal confidence—as soldiers, as front-line serious people—are a thing Mandated and Guaranteed. We also know, nothing self-righteous, that the gentle pleading is still needed for the sake of those at an earlier stage in their life experience. The children of the church. The ones fighting their own demons, resenting so-and-so for the attention paid to her or him, but still in dire need: Pastor, your words are stressing us out! Pastor, there is ample fields for the harvest! Pastor, we all can relate to needing some down time!