“15 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.” (1 Co 15:1–11 ESV)

Repeated near misses, the desire for a once-and-for-all Sacrament, defense of our case, speaking in our defense, is the substance and fruit of what we call Church. There, Christ hears the penitent. There, Christ refuses the easy slander, the amped or miasmic, drugged, fascination with Rumor and imagined pots of gold. There, we take care to love on each other a bit, offering a remedy rather than basking in others’ downfall or wounds.

If coached in the New Language, both parties to a disagreement (even if one party is not the one contesting, warring, disputing) have a story to tell, and a frustration level to pass on: such is hearsay, such is first to “tell the story”, such is exasperation and personal gripe-fest, wounded pride, solo Cause and Quest. We all of us, after all, are rather likeable, right? We all of us are rather winsome, not your average Criminal Minds (aha! Caught ya!) but Christian sorts and those on a bit of a saintly pedestal. All of us have something to Tell, and when this is denied, when that “once and for all” sacramental of absolution is passed by, well somewhere-around-here is some notes taken on matters number x, y, and z.

Meantime, it is a sad world when so much of our creed is around totems and idols, that we somehow accept that a credentialed soldier has the right to oomph, to backing, to violent imagery, but that another, a one from the woods, uncredentialed, on a thought-plane or let’s face it, a slandered lazy backdrop, is therein Denied the oomph. All of us are Recruits. All of us are soldiers, after living into some Draft. We are draftees and Troopers from our youth. The violence in film, or the “gangsta” talk in the current milieu, all this is to be seen through the lens of Art: demons exorcised via Portrayal; swear-words exculpating the sin; guns ameliorating the frustrated violent desires.

And also, we are on a higher plateau, if as soldiers we cannot do the “dirty work” on the home front. As those Credentialed, we have a higher Calling; we cannot sign Uncle Sam’s (repeat, Jesus Christ’s) name to certain homespun wars. We fight Abroad, in third world and backwaters. There, if it is said we have no Oomph, no Fight in us, no Belligerence or Violence… There we are Repped and busily at work. The home front… it is a sad world, at times. But on the home front, there will come a time when intel gathering reaches its limits, and the civility of a foreign war strikes home. Maybe it already has.

Because as Christ’s ambassadors we see the sacrosanct still eeking out a little Juice. We see the hospital wards and Episodes still early warning signs from those long under the Abuse of Law. We see the request: deny your brother, your sister, your mother, your father, your son, your daughter and plead no willingness to testify against a spouse and, if possible, no willingness to testify against a Friend.

The war is about so many early accomplishments now leaving egg on the face of entire cohorts and would-be, nominally, “Good folk” early compromised. Christ’s judgment day is rather stark in this regard, that while we agree to dialog and find winsome Repartee with people of all stripes and callings, that some are already to be judged Failed. Some are to wear the egg on the face. Some are to be Embarrassed, or ruined financially, or faulted because of some clever “frakking” that plundered their good will, their respectability, their Good Name in the community, for the benefit of the Aggressive Ones. Who didn’t stop to think: “so-and-so Isn’t Captain America”, rather than “Did you hear (gossip) what so-called Captain America did?”. Replace Captain with Servant, Disciple, Prophet, Apostle. And see that the hope of the poor… is it taken away? Is the hope of the children bad-mouthed and slandered? On what level are we making little gods and idols of our enemies? On what level are we appealing to our own notions of a Father Above, one who sees that we are Sincere (whatever that means) and therefore purrs favorably in our direction? Oh, so you have a self-righteous Complaint to file away? I’m all ears! As if.

To be in the trenches is to have sacrosanct Together Signpost, Signage, that Christ is a few steps ahead in the game, and He lifts some up and lowers some Others. We are to “calm down”  a bit in our eagerness to see others fall. We are to Win the Day upon Realizing that come wartime, slander will run rampant. It is a blessed day that we are still Capable of wandering about; so many Officers of Christ are holed up and fighting wars difficult to Express, Classified material, state secrets trustingly held in the heart. We cannot argue, “I’m just letting the Spirit decide for me” but rather, “I take the blame, I claim the decision-made, I will be Responsible to honor the brotherhood, the sisterhood”.

Christianity will survive, though the handlers of the would-be Heir are already ruining aspects of the Estate. That Heir is Christ-With-Us. That Heir… told the wrong way, it makes saints in the land into Criminals because of their exasperation even with the notion of there Being an Heir. But we make no claim as to our own sanctified nature, nor our Inheritance, but rather speak of thoughts in the wind, rumors in the air, portrayals most illustrious and spiritual, as what we are bargaining with, bargaining with the world around. There is So Much war to fight, after once we’ve identified each other, the parties to the high panel. And we need all the help we can get: Use Me, we plead. Come up with Interesting Uses of my time and storyline, not just crude accusations and frustrated lawsuits. I don’t know any better than you do, the outcome of this way of life or that, but I am a sinner saved by Grace! If it is sin to do something, please tell me as much rather than starting a rumor mill! And meantime, Believe that we are front line, in this world at war in hotspots around the globe. Enough with the empty preaching, preach to the Matters at Hand! And if not able, then please query the average Pewsitter for their take on matters.