“34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), 37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” The Holy Spirit Falls on the Gentiles 44 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45 And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, 47 “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.” (Acts 10:32-48 ESV)
To make bank, the faithful warrior initiates well aware of the music one day stopping, the traits of Christian life, life in community, mocked or elevated to new discomfiting levels; he or she initiates as such, but beyond initiating, he or she endeavors to dwell not in the realm of the possible, but the impossible. He or she always can go to the mat on the strangeness factor. Always on the uncouth factor, that Christ died a humiliating death, a painful death, and saw therein the heavens open up.
The aspect of making bank, then, unique to Faith, is that there is after all is said and done, Space for creative outlay, for well-intentioned Giftings, both spiritual assets and gifts we create in pain and patience for each other. The faith warrior watches through the night, as one chirping bird or another solemnly hooting owl creates mirth and due backdrop for reverie.
To go Deep, then: to “Mine” the recesses, wealthy stockpiles of our faith, this is to ask the Father for More, to ask the Spirit for a fresh Outpouring, ambitious to Do Good. More, it is to Reflect on how we live in community with the miscreant and the downtrodden. Simple human need, it comes alongside a careful dance we make with Sanity and Purpose, with Presence and Mission: always trying to be that Rock for those who need something or someone to lean on.
The realization of a Calling to holy affairs, begins as the Faith Once Delivered strikes us for the first time, as Crucial and potentially World-Changing. Yes, there are those who work for more measurable outcomes, for more tangible principles, for more give-and-take negotiations. But for us, strange to say that of all people it is other Christians whom we puzzle over the most, but all this because we do indeed have a Missive, a Calling, a Duty, to serve the faithful and to serve in Christ’s Name.
Because other Christians, we are not ourselves to judge, but quickly we warm to the non-believer over and against so many of the pewsitters. Yet the symbology is there, it is working in our favor, the passing of the peace and the solemn shared Gospel intoned.
Varied expressions, then, and our “peeps” (our people), on them we can lift a prayer throughout the day. The inspiration is some recalled obstinancy or pagan nature in our souls, which nature would boast or offend if given license, and we are of the faith that no sooner is a sin Recognized, then it is fixed and forgiven. We do not worry over how or whether ever we will be free of said heathenism, because we know Today God has given us the counterbalance, the see-saw tilting in His general direction. So our thoughts once more become Couth and Kosher, only in Radical and Impossible Fashion. That we live in a community where people, breakage occurs, human need is—having elsewhere been exploited—front and center. We live in the light of that music that one day ceases, and we are so grateful for even a day of contemplation prior to the Urgency, of reflection on what our Faith is about. We will not be ashamed on that last day, rather as Faithful warriors of the Prize, of the Resurrection Faith, of the Crown, ten non-believers will grab the hem of one believer’s coat, and the only question will be which way now? More outpouring, more of the Spirit, more of the Creed, more personal transformation.