“11 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. 8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. 13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” (Hebrews 11:1-16 ESV)

Who we are is plain for all to see: every movement has a flavor, a fashion, a bit of hometown Love, Warmth that you cannot simply invent or wish away. We all know, too, the personal shame felt or the embarrassment that our hearts are so vivid beating on our sleeves, that we are “around the way kids”, that we differ from those alternate voices and alternate emergent phenomena in whose mind some very bedrock things are compromised or done differently.

Nevermind that they fly the same flag, or even fuss all the more around said flag. Our tradition passed down, our flavor and fashion, are Rubrics for life, for productive life, for infectious Joy and Coming Together. We have learned not directly to address the puzzling things, but to keep to our rubrics and fashion, in Hope God will Emerge as a Phenomenon beauteous, alive, down-to-earth and “around the way”.

God will Emerge because His Son was not ashamed of the Cross: the Cross of vulnerable life in Community, His Community, His Perspective, all the more weakening when it isn’t Legislated with a fist or a sword. People yawn and lose respect until it is pointed out, that we ought to honor such as these. Oh yeah, we all chime and perk up around letters of recommendation. Something special must be going on here. Well of course, if thus-and-such trust you, so do we.

But as to that streetcorner “Around the way” nature, a nature not racist nor sexist, but not over-aggrandized nor Perfect: it really is vulnerable—hear the prophet cry “Hurry up!”—vulnerable to the knife, the cutting comments, the mullah (money) hurriedly invested in, paying off those trusted souls who know how to Engage. People are ruined by a community that is barely scraping by, notwithstanding Noble War there to inspire, notwithstanding Beautiful Little Things among the acolytes, but no… the drugs and caprice, the plunder and external abuse… these things ruin and mock what Persistent Life does, what Hope-Springing-Eternal does. 

Therefore our wide-eyed Visions and Dreams… that so-and-so might hit it off with so-and-so-two. That peoples they are a-talking. That the connections are being made. That the unspoken Demons and Fright Zones, these are being boldly and courageously Stared Down. And then to the mystery of it all, to the strange dynamic: is it true, one whose career is in subtlety and mystery, will not be able to avoid betraying themselves in the final issue, in the God-help-me Dialog, in the proud boasts?

No, we are those agents of a secret Crown who genuinely Believe: Christ is the reason, the Gospel our impetus, Conversion the pled-for Goal. We are secret agents who still adhere to Traditions Passed Down because… because no “cleverness” nor “Survival instincts” are stronger than that Tradition Invested in community. We do not Know what our most secretive and “Best” chess moves are. We count on a good half of it all being done by Mystery and Unthought-Out Correlation. Because we wore our heart on our sleeve. Because we refused to daydream unto the six-steps-later End, rather one step at a time, because our People… they are Hurting. Our communities, they are Needful. Our friends and networks, they are Bleary-Eyed… in Hope, in their own safely-kept Secrets, in that Patient response to some missive of a dozen months ago. We forget our own cleverness and get appalled that more is not getting done, yet it is getting done, just with each in their season. God is not panicky about war, but still is One patiently to design and re-design, to reboot and give second and third chances, to all comers, to all Adherents of the Good News, to His Son’s weeping, vulnerable, principled Life Together.