“13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.” (1 Pet 3:13-22 ESV)

Amidst nerves, copious Heightened Alert behaviors, thought processes Accelerated and Up, dwells a spirit pristine—not untouchable but Removed, preserved, luminescent and healthsome—and Partner to the laborers. This bride, this Full Reward and Rightly Owned aspect of the soldier at war, is herself and himself fighting in polite discourse perhaps, or in rabid secularizations perhaps, in the Competition to stay mannered and Luscious, Bodacious, but never cynically so, never too much, simply give-and-take, room to push and push back, environs Spiritual and in some simple fashion Special.

This sister to the soldier is herself and himself presented Now as an offering to the Lord—yes—but to the People behind the soldier, the fellows and gals in arms, the drill sergeants and trench dwellers, the vast Coming Together mentalism of a planned and orchestrated Church Body, in the hands of Capable vestry-members who take great delight in checking up on Right Outlay, Proper Use of the church’s resources, Proper Actors and Licensed Practitioners. The Queen, then, and the King if one or the other pertains, is of a vast train and a hidden Regality.

To go to war, then, is to bask for a brief instant in some “illegal” levels of Joy, the coming together and Brinksmanship of life in a Healthsome community, where illegal levels of succulence and camaraderie, attitudinal Dance, together Vibe, are all on display. Notwithstanding the cynical life’s instructions: suspect, trust no one, all are out for their own good, all are sinners. No, war is waged against us precisely because the Soldier came into her or his own, and there basked, not lazily, not presumptuously, but as a Right-Loved daughter or son.

And the need, then, for heart and soul to Inform our thought processes and Thinking Outfits, for non-cynical labors around the Prize of said regal throneroom called Church: for the right people to step up and the ambitious in our midst to stay lowly. Where there was a threat perceived: to a hegemonist, to an oligarch, to a brutish sort of Leader, to this threat we prep work and ready ourselves: it will bring a backlash, this we know. It will bring a contretemps, this we disdain but know. It will bring a swooping sort of rebuttal, towards this we have remorse. But also the Joy of life as the Master’s personal Army, Gideon’s Army, Jesus Christ’s Army, is ours Today and Always… no longer dreading the war and simply longing for home, we come into our own as Soldiers occupied Here and Now with right business called warfare sublime. Peace and hawkish both, waiting patiently but giving Mandates nonetheless. So aware that our own designs… are they sinful? We’ll never know for sure, because the impetus to an Ash Wednesday of the soul, a kneeling prayer, not quite in fear but in remorse, accompanies our Decision-Making days. Our Decisions… it is a holy thing that ours are chosen above the decisions of our peers, at times. At times, only. And in these times, we are not the more Proud for the Hour, but say “grace to me a sinner”.