“13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love. 15 Now I urge you, brothers—you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints— 16 be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. 17 I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, 18 for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people. Greetings 19 The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. 20 All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.” (1 Cor 16:13-20 ESV)

A normal playing field begins when Christ is buried in the Word and Resurrected as a Man or Person. You can feel it in the air: we are celebrating tainted lives and not put off by our humanity. The playing field is Normal precisely because of some Willingness to engage, to be non-too precious for the Enemy but at like time to hold up and bear in our hearts that Christ is just Human, like us, a little envious at times or lustful, a little self-righteous at times or unshriven… when these things are not balked at, not hurriedly cause for changing the subject, but also are not salacious nor indulgent, in this Setting the drinks after service with the pastor, for example, is some non-bland Encounter with simple life’s work, Calling, service, testimony, safeguarding.

We safeguard using the notion of the unbearable lightness of being, our cause so Valued as to be able to be held on little more than wings and a prayer: it is a magnificent accomplishment, Christ’s Plan for the ages, to go full strength in things held lightly, in the performance number called Church Liturgy, in the final Defeat of all sinful thoughts or jealous diatribes unspoken, by a man or a woman in ministry who knows all are sinners and various sins… some come into fashion and others go out, but the Man or Woman involved, must realize we are like ninety percent of the time running on autopilot, when it comes to that shriek of despair that greets the discovery of sin within. That we were eyeballing someone across the aisle whom we had contretemps with; that we were looking for our own selves to be flattered or built up, without nary a concern for the meek and needful in the audience.

Therefore to Encounter Eternity once is to hold lightly the weightiest things Mankind owns, the Gospel: and willingly to die, even, for the sake of something that once met us in our proper element, not too holy for us, not too sanctimonious, but a very precious jewel so easily destroyed.

God is with the warrior of prayer who, lightening all claim to be full metal jacket, to be thus in the sense of Ready and Purposeful. Our Purpose… we ally with those evangelicals, perhaps, who see all life as Mission around Christ. We ally with those liberals, perhaps, who watch the lightly governed lives of their children grown unfettered and with magnificent breadth. On some level we are each of us pronouncing Absolution over our friends, and doing so—this is no wearying or heavy-handed mandate—willingly: when we’ve seen the light (O, my soul be still) it really is Eternity, it is enough to fight for, it is enough to drop everything and pony up to.

To create this strange fabric in the air, this warmth and breadth to cater to one another, to feed the hungry, to satiate the unsettled, to calm the anxious, is like children with a Good Mom, a Good Dad, who are both held and flourishing in their own right and on their own prerogative. We can cut the air with a knife, so thick is the battle waged, so venomous the two sides, so decisive, fashionista and Voting with our feet the giant we put together, that it is Home rather than imposition, Duty rather than obligation, Careen rather than sputtering out. The air is thick, because some people were intoxicated with the Love, but not even that word… something called gladsome repartee and simple okayness with the silence or with the boisterous tidings sent our way.