“17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, 18 to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. 20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. 21 And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.” (Re 19:17–21 ESV)

The friends network suddenly recruited Team, recruited Troops, fielded, marshalled, stoked, rallied: the albatross, the Rooster (who figured Peter’s denial of Christ in the New Testament), the Morass forgets abundant Competitive spirit from those Innocent of greater Sin or Sinful Design. Which Innocence offends and emboldens a would-be Enemy.

Notwithstanding the Call today, that the Winners (first, pinch yourself: it’s real) derive no pat contentment from the war’s outcome but madly dash to minimize the unnecessary collateral damage: we literally come alongside our bitter foe, to talk them down from a ledge. We literally Mourn, though inwardly Excitable around the prospects, initially-speaking, of Going Bellicose, Going Militant, Going Tough, the war it was and shall be painful to watch, it was and shall be lacking in Answers.  We were excitable because the Offense of the Cross, for which we stand, salute, bow, touch our heart of hearts in sign of the Cross, the Offense of this Institutional Symbol and Friend’s Burden notwithstanding the Institution, the Offense has been mollified, it no longer Looms as a shadow overarching with the Power to Convict, to Terrify into Eager Submission, to Inspire helpful jaunts of myriad activity.

So we were excitable, also, to be Correct to have Prepared a bunker at least we are those who Follow Through even when like Noah we are mocked for our readiness for the unseen. And to that “unseen”: in fact, it may be already peeking out and made visible. Already balderdash pigheadedness and inane One-Trackedness-of-Mind, already bullish actions lacking in sentiment or empathy, all these are muddying the air, polluting the waters, around our Relic and Living Testament, Christ’s Cross lifted High.

Because to Deny Jesus it is not a thing easily undone. No, Christ Forgives, but we get into a parlor game or chess match with the Divine, too easily offended that our sins are cause for anything more than a mild corrective, rather, we are already laughing at ourselves but doing so blindly expecting the Opponent will also laugh a bit and look away. It isn’t that our sins, as if we are hard-headed and they occur “on the reg”, but just that Christ’s Burden for His Church: surely there are bigger things to contest?

The Body of Christ has her or his tumors and acnes, skin conditions and burnedness by the Sun. We see it all kneaded out, and the unbridled desire to see or hear something new, the gossipy tendency, the “Scout’s Honor” that mistakes the inkling of truth with license to libel and slander, oblivious, blind to the agent’s own Caprice, Eagerness to see a brother or sister fall, Complete inability to put a minor mistake within the context of decades of Service…

The winners are already doing mop-up work because war ends not when Peace is obtained, but when all the minefields are cleared, all the nuclear waste buried, all the civilized Discourse reignited, impregnated social Cohesion. More, the war comes in Waves, and people of Principle are seeing well beyond nation-state against nation-state, religion against religion: the Looming fright zones make for us to make Haste to teach and raise up the child-man, child-woman, for a position of Leadership. Whether one we know in person, or a “type” of that archetypal “other”: yet if our skin is of a different color, or our hair of a different stripe, to many this is cause for greater, not less, curiosity. And such curiosity, such eagerness to live flamboyant and boisterous, not Bored or Beleaguered, not tired of the cipher but Rejoicing we were counted worthy as to suffer for His sake… and said Suffering, it can seem Church has gone too far off the deep end of Unforgiveness, and the only way now is for some divorce or hail of bullets. Yet until Christ calls us home, we are more than Capable as Forgiven Creatures to carry on with our ministries.