“4 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” 9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (Eph 4:1–16 ESV)

Maturity vis-a-vis the high seas called Church, to some is graciously postponed until a season in life penitent, cautious, forlorn about sin, meek, and reliably, quietly contrite. The hatred and aspersions cast the way of our beloved Church, are precisely against the self-righteous bent, the inquisitorial thought, the frustrated shove of a Body contrite, childish, gossipy, and incriminating.

The best of the best greet the sinner, however, with the Equipment, the Economics, of “if you need to make some sort of confession, go, get that out of your system… we have work to do”. That is, maturity, the season of life aforementioned as the season postponed, celebrates a Bat Mitzvah of floundering no longer, of basking in, being found within, surfacing upon, the high seas of Church. Where there is no totem pole, no accolades for previous career highlights, no rank nor discipline other than—look out—a hive mind, in some ways why did ever I earn such beloved Experiences, Spirits Sublime and Gracious (for sooth!), and secondly, why the maddening self-righteous, gossipy, bent?

Calmly regenerating around a New Economics, the Christian is the rugby player, football player, push-comes-to-shove Ambassador, who has for sooth put aside his or her accolades and winsome streaks, for a New Economics: embracing nothing we have earned (yes, even for him or her so illustrious in career and gameday brilliance) but embracing instead the meek and unaccounted Forgiveness, Grace, Belonging minus earning, truly High Seas because it is a lottery ticket from Heaven grasped, until the madness of church life, any community life, is seen and experienced.

Grace is the mantra we immediately Refuse: “Go your way, do nothing and all things will be given to you eventually! You are in Christ’s hands!”. We refuse, because that is not how the world works, persuading us down from a perch Earned and of solid Repute. But we also Accept, because it is a contagious Message entrusted therein, that in fact said Mercy, said Grace, no it doesn’t come from the good priestly classes of men and women, it comes from the oddball unforeseen Community Member or institution widely understood.

Seeming cautionary tales meet Directors and Agency Higher-Ups who, notwithstanding their accolades and deserving, mystical, removed from sight, hidden Wonder, are like all of us caught up in, swept up in, one spirit or another; and the Christian there found, who goes to prayer, does Invite the genius personal Quest discovered, arrived upon, and then blessedly shared. God humbles the proud, and we see the hive mind wherein proximity to greatness, there is where the bird chirps, where the prophet (inspired like Peter the Apostle upon the mount of Transfiguration) sounds forth. There is a whole world unspoken of, motoring along, and the Baptism by Fire, baptism into the lifeblood of the Poor in the land, of the genius Poor in the land, of the racial minority or ones mightily groomed to be advocates, no expectations except the gladsome elders’ smiles and encomiums: no, you need not go the racially prejudicial route of this or that genius brand: do what you want! Anything and everything! And the Observer has it both ways, both judge and assess what genius lies therein, and refuse to cubby-hole or strait-jacket the Ascendant Ones. 

Directors and overseers meet one another in a world that makes zero sense to the casual observer or lower-down echelon-wise Citizen: just Call me on the phone and express your authority, so I might honor you! No way! The fact is, if they persecute the one who was sent, they will also persecute the sender. More, there are echelons a little too High Up quite to appreciate until life experience intervenes. More, there might be civil war, internal war… Of course! Lastly, finally, you lower-down Citizen, simply might be in part correct: in a perfect world the Heavenly Ones would dote on the trajectory even of their hourly hirelings, they would drop their mantle or resume of Righteous Work, in order to dote on their son or daughter, their underlings. Finally, there is simply Genius… some generations owe a duty to be grateful for Genius at the helm.