“12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. 29 Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? 30 Why are we in danger every hour? 31 I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! 32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” 34 Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. The Resurrection Body 35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. 42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.” (1 Co 15:12–49 ESV)

Mortality lessens the Crusader’s outlook. Christ rose from death, because nothing vexes, nothing hinders, nothing intrudes more upon our Sanctified Place of Peace, upon our Kumbayah Togetherness, upon our Hegemony of the Saintly, than decay and death. Indeed, is any of us strong enough? Can any of us “go on”? When deadening thuds whittle and amputate a worldview and a Sense of Place, a Theology of Body and Soul, a “Me and My Friends” ‘round here.

Christ Died and Rose, the first-fruits of Life in the Spirit, because Fear no longer holds the blade, no longer is the Circumcisor and Winnower, no longer is the Inevitable. Made New, in Christ we can Celebrate the lives that have gone before us, to be in a “better place” we might add, though it is Vitamins for the Soul truly to face the Pain, truly to scream at the Walls, truly to Suffer and Mourn the friends who have gone before us.

Some pain… it doesn’t quite register, perhaps because it requires revisiting a neighborhood once shared, revisiting some other things easily lumped up in Denial. The Role of the Pastor in each of us is to Shepherd: through the valley of desponds, through the shadow of death, through the Mockery of Life and the Violation of Terms, terms of Engagement, terms of Friendly Banter, terms of Collegiality. On some level… cease to be mollified or frightful, begin to Team Up and see, no ain’t no threat around here quite like the one you Imagine. We are all of us on that crazy little life raft called Christian, and capsize it might, new preaching of a Risen Lord might be on order, on tap, on… come the tears, because every Loss is Felt, every Missing bar mate or bar lass is ordering up yet more Christ-centered, Resurrection-centered, Preaching. But Oh, the loss.

The winning steed is racing down the street in a van or meaningful Vehicle, lights beeping and booping and sirens wailing or clandestine Escort wailing. The meaning of the black SUV, the white SUV, it varies but Reminds: Christ is Immediately vouchsafed with Protection, each of us, too, save those we can, are Essential Witnesses when so many witnesses preceding us had not the Luck and Circumstance of the protective, of the security systems, of the Teamwork and Mandate: I’ve chosen this one, to lead, to be Excellent and Excel, to Wow and to Decide, never bogged down with Regrets and urged in Haste to learn Decision-Making, Discerning of Spirits, shooting from the hip until wham-bang, the music stops and look… You got this. You have the tenor and humors to Get This. You have the Chutzpah sorely, sadly, to reflect on past mistakes but largely to Credit the Mercy of Jesus as your Licensing and your Absolution.

Invasion and State-Claimants, make Urgent decisions around what needs immediately to be Tapped, Mined, Taken In: it is our Victory Day when the doors burst down and “Come up here!” is heard. But too, patience is a virtue, humility a stripe of the spiritually-rich: our Lord and our Father Above has the perspicacity to Shelter and Protect and Give Room to Grow, even if on some days we feel a sudden Depression has ruined our Shooting-from-the-hip Training in Discerning of Spirits. Even if, “I need someone to talk to” meets the cool Republican, this land is owned by Freedom-Loving, freely-deciding, sons and daughters: go Large, O Son, O Daughter, and shush and cease to Complain, and cease to climb into the lap of mother or father. We don’t need someone to talk to. We don’t, either, talk to the air around us. Because Anyone, who knows who was in our room whilst we were motoring about in the big blue room called Outside. This is no paranoid ideation, this is Faith in the unseen, in the Large Stature—cue Depressive certainty it was all overdone, in our mind, and worse—we have Arisen Unto. For we hold these truths to be self-evident, that a few readers, a little readership, a few Friendlies in the big cold room “out there”, and we cease to be mocked and stared down by the frightful Numbers Game. The soldier is Hereby Called to live into the bugged and filmed Personal Everything Seen and Heard Room. The soldier is no longer gaped at, gawked at, humored and Studied, rather is at a Helm nouveau and Pertinent. We are each of us Capable of earning the attentions and affections of a Mythological intelligence agency that Torments the saint as much as it Saves the Least and the Lost. As much as it Readies the community via individually-chosen Saints and Sinners, it Invests and she imbues and he instills, Quality Spiritualities in order to Bless and Percolate and Divulge and Reciprocate, Ripple Effect, the prayerful Signs and Wonders.

Miracle and Patient Plea, “I can’t do this any more” is met with, well, draw on your inmost strength. Draw on quality Preaching: it’s out there. God is for us, God restores the Sinner, God forgives the spousal denials or parental hateful missives. God… we are not playing “catch up” but are to Rest and to Be Blessed, to Embrace those Reassurances that can seem insignificant, a dollar here, a little vote in our favor there. We can do all this because the Front Line automatically tortures the soldier with Insane Responsibility for Life and Death decisions. That is called conscientiousness. That is called sanity. That is called Personal Duty.