“6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:1-14 ESV)

Exposure to the unfamiliar: how we respond is a measure of our generosity. Towards those different from us. Towards the assembled mindset. Towards boots on the ground Wise Gameplan. We need Wisdom. We need Trust networks and Trusted Orders. Because the Unfamiliar… it astonishes and shocks us. Takes us out of our comfort zone. Mocks us. Brings about embarrassingly naive Response.

Running on a high wave, downward deeds mock us and show us Error-Prone. Too, the unfamiliar: we ought not to risk matters in such cavalier fashion. The plain Gameday attitude, is that Christ Died Once for sin, the righteous for the unrighteous, and in this Hope we make solemn Progress. Gameplan, contrition, repentance, real vision of the world through really different lenses. Somehow, this Christ… this Emblem… this Talking Point becomes all-potent as our Creed and Line of Defense.

Or does it? To proclaim Christ is to set up camp on a little island, a shoal, it can seem, all told a little too quiet or pathetic a claim really to live around. But our little island, our shoal… this was just to test us: the assembled Saints are On High singing hymns and lifting Holy Praise, to this same Culprit of the Cross, Christ for us, Christ the sharp and Modern Friend we boast in. Can I tell you what Jesus did for me…

We shall not all perish but all shall be Changed… in the twinkling of an eye, in the moment of Action. Our layered efforts to Adopt Christ into our Lives, these have prepared a catcher for our trust fall. Something shall Catch us, a Spirit, a Truth Claim, a King. And we are not mindlessly to follow, rather with new joy our Alacrity grins and startles forth, shocks forward, edges Forth: new life, for the despondent, for the abandoned, for the forlorn. So we are never again to risk our Reputation on things that cannot save, rather to risk All on a Comprehensive, Versatile, Dynamic full-bodied Faith. A faith that charges forth, no longer embarrassed to be Different from our peers, no longer Apologetic around what we profess to be our Creed, no longer frightful as to whether we wish thus to be associated with the assembled Mass called church.

The start of Conflict, with it comes the Mannered, Respected, Reputable, time in the trenches by the Soldier. Time when doubts assail and we feel all alone or near to perishing. Where we wonder if we’ll ever have a chance to Explain Ourselves. Where we also struggle quite to Believe that Christ is our surety. Not anything we can plead or profess, but rather His works being done in tandem with our Faith. Our Hope… it is therefore Impossible, though our better instincts want to Do Something, it is therefore Impossible to earn Anything except the unconditional Love of the Son for the Person.

Again, the Energies and Currents, are ones that sweep us up into them, apart from and aside to our Bettering of the Self or our Works of Improvement. Can you hear the trumpet call? Eager notions of Service and of March, these gladsomely invite the Soldier to do business Sublime, to sign up Motivated, to eek out a living in Company. All our problems… they are Forgiven at once oh and look: Christ is already preparing the victory march! Already preparing the troop lines to accept us into! Already giving Meaning and Purpose to our hours of the day!