“2 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Wisdom from the Spirit 6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— 10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor 2:1-16 ESV)

Always the entire world beckons only then to be reminded, it was a solemn day of sin that spelt our particular engagement. Remembering us and our gestalt as Sin, this is also to ask for some backroom tactical talking, first and foremost. What is the public relations message? How does my penitence speak Truth, and more, how do we ensure that the good name held in public trust, that this name is used not for salacious rumor-mongering, but that our chief message is Christ-centric?

They say Fear the Lord, we say the same right back to them. More, to learn that life isn’t always peaches and cream, is to Grasp that at times we must tolerate someone Else’s choice of interlocutor. But why, they ask. Why him, why her. Maybe some nudge or nod towards Education? That the one who showed up at church fasting from everything even hot showers, was perhaps a litmus test? Or was utterly hogwash presumptuous ghastly and “Ha!”.

If this is we ourselves, yes, mistakes made… no to resolving those mistakes within a week? Ten years? Twenty years? Yet again, always the entire world beckons only then to be reminded, hearts used? Easy slander? Only this, that God does indeed Redeem the lost years. God does indeed pay spirit with what is spiritual. If others lack the means to respond in kind, themselves in spiritual get-up, then please refer to item one: sometimes we must put up with someone else’s choice of star.

And to that non-negotiated backrooms little amount of stage management: how to let this one make public penance, once and (Hopefully) for all? Because it is too awful the plausibilities: you weren’t a willing convert, you were dragged to church kicking and screaming, you are still resolving Basic Sins. You are guilty of the very thing you claimed to be arriving in order to protect from. You are revolting. Your sins… when people see this was wartime, they believe the aggrandized storylines most false, because indeed those destined to Worry over pride, sins of gossip, of self-righteousness, well that is because such as these are manifestly from Clean Stock, fathers and mothers never would have tolerated such wanton behavior, too ill even to speak of. 

To the Push, then, and to the Shove. That we Together stage-manage a bit, just a bit, around a Creed most sublime, echoing in the chambers of power high and low, echoing in the newsrooms and backrooms, the militias most domestic and the literary clubs most urbane. We shall work through this… together! And they say, all things work together… for good, yes, and with increased “chatter”, with boundaries broken suddenly after years of respectful engagement, with Noise and Reason to listen to our own inner prophetic voice, that War is upon us, and the soldier is Strong because the victor is no longer whoever is first to call the authorities, the victor is no longer whomsoever gets to tell the story first, but rather the victor… quite chaste, quite passingly free of sin… is Presented Sublime and Ready. Dutiful and Clean. Worrying over more subtle sins, yes, but Dutiful, Clean, able to Teach and Educate.

Therefore once and for all, the mea culpa. Greetings, brother, sister in Christ! Have you heard or do you know it? Where sinner number one Conceded the Point, likewise the church surrendered to a higher calling themselves: to be Peace with another style of dress and style of thought. Grown-up stuff, indeed! No children at the helm because it is cute or lovable, but adults and those being adults most dreamy-eyed around Distant Rapprochement, people coming together. The soldier Reassures: number two in chain of command is an enviable position to hold. Likewise numbers three and onwards. Yet they say, bomb them back to the stone age: ask for confessions of sins already mightily forgiven. Make up rumors to teach the fear of God. Or don’t, but preach lies.

The soldier, then, is tasked like a grown man or grown woman, to love the people and the neighbors, with a strong love. They say, embrace me even as I pummel your chest with fists, but we likely refuse. We likely teach Everyone, all Comers, the right knowledge of God, and of the Father. That there is little He can do when we “sue” as to Him being the kind of teacher guaranteed (spoiled by our parents, perhaps?) to give a gold star on the homework, “No it isn’t Fair that such-and-such comes to pass!” But we who have matured from suing our parents, understand that sometimes the needed reassurance is not voiced because we requested some impossible escapism. “Just Tell Me, if there is something important to know!” “If you are who they say you are, you’d just call up the authorities yourself… why can’t You do that?” Education is about a lone and stark journey called Life, where God has encouraged us to grow bold and self-sheltered, not asking the Father to indulge childish games! Teach the kids, they say, teach them to know God by trust games and such, but we play no such hogwash, we have no confidence that a good deed of humility will be our ticket to grand and bold things. Yet still we Do the good deed of humility, expecting no reward. “Trust the bishop, and he or she will elevate you in time!” Ha! Hardly! But the dear neighbor who is struggling because of a bad breakup or abuse suffered, who scarcely speaks in his or her own defense, is going to make it as well. We self-destruct, some of us, at times. But also we are treated as Grown-Ups. We are treated as those soldiers who know God is capable of All Things, while at the same time God relies on our sagacious self-determination, our decisiveness on the war front, our lancing forth most sublime and Intentional. To embrace the need. To proceed cautiously around the negotiations, being so chaste and solemn in our own frames.