“13 Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. 4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” 7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. 10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. 17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. 18 Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. 19 I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.” (Hebrews 13:1-19 ESV)

The scope of human capacity: numbness as if undernourished and forgetful that a few mental tasks are dreaming big but running on empty; the Christian is no longer seeking after a playing field to thrive in, but for Christ’s Reign to begin. The Christian must not ask just for the time and circumstance and: “I’ll take it from here”. The Christian is weirdly composed and in some things Confident, in others… what is the “right” thing, a needful thing, to say around here… it is not a matter of Scale, Avenues Open, and Playing Field but of Inspiration and strange Teaming Up with the Spirit of Christ.

As to nourishment: we in tandem with the Spirit have Mocked hunger and mocked malnourishment; coffee… no need; protein… see me strong minus; carbs… that’s a fine notion, but no. When Judgment Day arrives, more, we are a bit precocious if we—knowing Luther the Reformer went ahead of us in this regard—worry after our salvation. But aren’t we “good folk”, “good Christian stock”, “upright and Righteous people”? See Luther’s Table Talk and rich banter in his place of holy orders, with his wife and students; because he had said balderdash to the devil and ceased to fuss around whether he had fasted enough to be Saved.

But it is a Sensitive thing, a Curious thing, a Special thing, to see that God mocks the proud, and we do well to tread lightly a bit when approaching Holy Things. Who knows but that this Church, this Prayer Network, this Healing Ministry might be judged more Worthy to Receive… submission, cadence, working alongside? And we… in moments of judgment we even resort to the non-gospel of Wisdom Literature: shouldn’t I have done as the proverbs writer said, and been more circumspect? Would that have translated to some protection and safety net from spiritual trials too awful for words? So all holy writ is sacred.

We were born ready. Those are fighting words if any are. We do well not to obliterate our Waiting Game, our Down Time, or our Peace March, with too much introspection: all of us can wonder about just how Simple and Familiar—like any day riding the subway or bus around town, careening about the countryside in the little vehicle—it will be. Judgment will just be like musical chairs, and where we find ourselves… hasten to make Peace with the Christian Body, perhaps, but also have wry sense, ironic sense, that this same community is the one who crucified Jesus Himself. And so we wonder, if it really is that Stark an Hour, shouldn’t we… what are we Doing, all things told… still playing the waiting game? Why haven’t we blurted out some confession of Praise in the church service or gone out in a magical cloud, a cloud of turpentine as the car rockets forward? Why are we still edging around the corners and hidden areas? Why are we going as if all is “Normal” when in fact Urgent Testimony is called for?

Thus experienced God’s people throughout history, the sense that ends the book of John that libraries could not contain all the things written about what Jesus did. We are strangely self-referential or self-analytic as we sit and ponder, or stand and wait, observing our own blossoming of Spirit-Led praise and that strange balance where… we ask of Christ for a miracle, but also somehow wish to maintain our own agency. In part we just would love for Him to decide for us, but in part—this is His genius—we are able to man the cockpit and the steering room. So we don’t just drift along in His embrace, but daily face Trials and Temptations, none too great for us or rather, none that He won’t hear our repentance from: I didn’t know I was capable of as much. Sorry, O God and Christ, Spirit and Trinity. And then… that Sacramental, that Posture, that Poise… we dare even, in our overly humble modes, to question if the sacraments of our Religion are as good as those of a foreign religion. Or are those Others the ones trapped under a weight of Law too great for anyone to bear up under? Is their Wisdom literature better, their simple knowledge passed down? What, after all, is our Right to claim ascendancy and supremacy? Is it that fact and aspect: His life for your sins, Christ on the tree deciding to take the blame upon Himself?