“14 Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 16 But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. 19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” 20 Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. 22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 23 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” (2 Tim 2:14-26 ESV)

“6 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 3 We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything. 11 We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. 12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. 13 In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.” (2 Cor 6 ESV)

Christian “change and amendment of life” occurs vividly, voraciously, in forward guise: one thinks, “see, here, soldier Christian: see you having habitual patterns of mind that might be called sin…”. And one is convicted. How, after all, do we do Anything with alacrity or sincerity, if we are thus eager to see others fall or longing for some personal respite? But the Gospel is rather rude and Forward Thinking, to push us not to whimper “defeat!” but to embrace a Truth wherein even our sins work together to bless and to be Kingdom Incarnate, Fighting Forth, Inaugurated Now.

The facts of things long acclimated to, accustomed sins, plain dealings, we wonder if we alone are thus Possessed. But why, well because others boast in their Goodness; from pastor to temple usher, from cleric to the man weeping at the nervous back of the sanctuary: all are Equal in this need for change and amendment of life. And all… the Call to sally forth… is peculiarly not Tied to one’s goodness, whether innate or decisively Engaged Upon. No, we are not “good” because we resolved to make ourselves better. We are not “benign” because see how innocent we are, come now let’s speak in truth and for sooth! We are not “Christ-like” because of how we demure and act timid and raise our hands to show reverence.

We are insanely innovatively Recreated and Resigned to His Ventures and Capital-laden Expanse, Movement, Voracious or Hungry patterns. He calls this one and then that, the “David” in our midst—who slept with married Bathsheba, who faked out Saul—to be His chosen instrument. Yes, O Christian soldier, embrace the melancholy. Embrace the personal Eventuality suddenly front and center: wow, I’ve professed Christ all this time, and yet still there are realms needful of the Gospel… only, I am not now too worried… if I am still a sinner, I trust God is using articles destined for the trash, using them like a faintly burning wick in the night, attracting the fluttering life of a moth or two, lighting up the home, illuminating basement sins.

God will heal us, and will recreate us less sinful in the next round, annual check-ups, regular astonished Invocation of a Conviction that cannot be planned or fasted into or designed. It comes to us because a strange Rightness of Cause permeates. An old friend reacquainted with. A theology branded into our skin. A sudden recollection of some Fact and with it a Today Mandate. To make the journey. To see the friend. To visit the people. We are heroes in sublime or unspoken Fact. Because God is putting up no caution tape but the opposite: Come Home, O weary ones. Your sin… it is not a cleric’s license to claim dominion, no “victory” of the cleric who hears confession… theology spells out a unique personal Experience to reckon with sin, and knowing the fruits of being vocal or spelt out on paper, on “personal inventory”, it mandates some confession made, just perhaps. But also only if heard with a joyous laugh and Invite to venture forth newly encouraged into the night and Tomorrow Day. We have—as a population, a people, a body—no time to put on the brakes or to wallow as though having arrived at a Flaw. Our flaws… they are in God’s care now. The stages of grief… the stages of penitence… all this is undertaken even as Life calls for us Now and Here, to have Conviction and Second Chances, because the community needs us, because our country needs us, because by and large God uses broken vessels for Holy Use.