“15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” (Eph 1:15-23 ESV)

Lord stuff, and we range free: to please, to follow, to imitate. That the Lord on High Acts, with sovereign Qualities, sovereign Ingenuity, sovereign Fist held Firm, and we know a rare side, the welcome side, the tucked-in-the-bosom driving Care for our own person. That we will work gladly on these terms… that we will work handily on these prerogatives… that we will work handsomely on these rewards… these things Beckon and Diffuse, Sparkle and reign supreme, fluorescent and shiny, no End to the genius of Life Together, handily upheld, handsomely Regarded, patently Austere.

Already our Deeds are being poured out, our Lifeblood sovereign, austere, our light-in-the-night Curiosity-Driven Service: we Serve, because we only want to make a difference. We only know, get to the bottom of this dynamic, that the right things may transpire. Together we seek, beseech the spirit of the age, no-nonsense flub and snub that same spirit as antithetical to God’s Work; we are after a shared Cause, not simply “Downgrade them!” but do, O friend, list out some missions and battlezones most germane to Today. While it is still Day. Because each has their peculiar brand of Genius, each as well has their innate refusal to Respect Another, if that Other Person has proven or demonstrated themselves weak or disreputable in some Encounter. And this may be illogic. This may be mutually-assured-destruction. This may be some Sense in which our own qualities… our impoverished backdrop or Servant, Apostolic, Missional Work cajoles and frustrates said Enemy: who feels we broke through some social Trust, and must never be anything more than scoffed at again.

Such is Sin, that indeed: your Humility is nice and all, but You Must Serve! You cannot back off and say it is all too ambitious or presumptuous for you. You Must Serve! And invented obstacles… invented hangups… invented flare-ups… these you must take responsibility for and be accountable for. More, the one for whom it is sufficient simply to fast and pray… for this one, we beseech a more Urgent Mindframe: life is screaming at the doorstep for our attention and our Dutiful Exchange. Do Something! Recognize myriad Evils in the world, and Do Something!

Because many folks “out there” lack the experience of having been loved unconditionally. They doubt that anyone would Love on them without design or artificial quality. And some of the most heroic deeds… these are to crash-land a rocketship Divine, not with any assurance of survival, of any survivors. That was Christ, who lost everything when He Died, minus even the precedence of a Saint or Prophet Past rising from the dead. He had to Believe, that His death would spark a movement. That His death would Mean Something, to those second-in-command Servants called Disciples. Even though they were second-in-command—a role we ourselves love to occupy—He thought it behooved Him to Die for them. That they would fill the shoes and the inherited Role, quite nicely. With His approval. With His dying Corrections or Instructions. With His blood spilt that we might learn to Embrace our own querulous Higher Principles. To Embrace and to be About the Master’s Business, no Nonsense, no societally-conscious scoffing at the self-righteousness, at the presumption upon holy things, at the goody-two-shoes retort. Today, we can reinvent ourselves. Today, we can correct errors past. Today, we can turn our fast into something Urgent and Revealed, God For Us, God loving us, God seeing through the spider’s web of intrigue and doubt, unto a sly but fun-loving Cavalcade and Escape unto Holier Doings.