““2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:2-11 ESV)

In surprise and coincidence, Christian creed manages to go top to bottom, befitting its adherents with talking point and experiential faith. Witnessing faith. Corroborated faith. And all this, the lowly classes and the elite, the deep Reliance: that God is good; that Man has an Author; that the only thing holding back Kingdom Come is the enlistment of a sizable army capable of being “Hands and feet” to the King.

Only this army, like Gideon’s, is not measured in numbers rather in some soothsaying taken on Faith, some prophecy taken on Advice, some surmised Fact taken on audacious Truth Claim. It only took One, that hallowed first time around. It took One, plus His forward guard of disciples twelve, the Master a Servant to His people.

This Army, it mocks any and all social discourse around Who and What we put our faith in, mocks conspiracy theories on the one hand, and elite or liberal common sense on the other hand: what we each of us Are, is no logicians of what constitutes the Godhead, rather we are gladsomely, delightedly, raising holy hands in worship and submission, unto the cubbyholes, the mansion with many rooms, the Space and Cocoon and Womb for each of us to land happily Home in laud and honor and praise of the King.

No, it is no boring Army who only sits around waiting for a less-than-lovely final Resting Place. Our Heavens… they entail some gladsome Exchange, some Ying and Yang, some delighted Gamesmanship. Of us entertained and winsomely engaged. With each other, in all Truth and Happenstance. With the Stranger in our midst, in all fealty and welcome.

The Army of God, therefore, is Delighted to be found in worship, Ecstatic to be found in prayer, Humbly-Proud to be found in service. That this Person of Godhead exists, this is a vote in favor of the benign or wise Counselor On High. That this generation is Unique, in that the scriptural imperative to submit to all earthly authority, is indeed a directive in favor of a Good Species of Lord and Headship.

And to the strange way, like Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, that oddball statements and adjudications, odd fears or votes in favor of some “do such-and-so” minus the flavor of the specious priests who run the cabal. It is liberating, even if voiced as “law” or “duty” or “judgment”, when like in Christ’s Sermon, such Words are fresh air and water, to breathe and to imbibe. Because they are Radical. Because the oddball Vote is Confidence and Certainty, of some Thing to distract us from normal, in a rut, social engagement. We are Radical for our paranoias as much as for our conspiracy theories, but that we are also Patiently Waiting for the signs to ones so submitted as we ourselves are.

Christ’s Army is therefore juiced up and Intoxicated on a brand of Spirit unrecorded, unable even in the wise words of Scripture, to be encapsulated or served piecemeal. This brand of Spirit is the Sin Crucified, the Vote authentic and nervous, Nervous and Total, unto living Clean and Reformed Beings, Soldiers, Platoon-Mates. We are, after all, capable of some benign Rest, some Together Peace and End to the uptight Nerves. Where we are not resting on account of a creed or litany of deeds, no signing on the dotted line around good works completed or intentions of the heart, but rather something Memorable having to do with each other and with the Miracle of Spirit triumphing over all flesh and all boredom. We can discuss Science as much as Mathematics, Philosophy as much as Sociology, Humanities as much as Engineering: honoring our Leaders in thought, our Hope in some innate genius of the mind. In honor of what we one day shall Grasp and that one day shall Entertain us as we waltz into a Heavenly Final Resting Place.