“6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. 10 For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. 11 Command and teach these things. 12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Ti 4:6-16 ESV)

Our peace, our confidence: it may be said, come conversion, you will be fighting the same battles for the rest of your life. No elysian fields. No happy place able to radiate and inform or inspire others. Life is a mess, and its people are tyrants, at times. Its people are grasping at straws and, if anything has changed, it is just the lesson that in some cases, though instinct says “don’t dignify it with a response”, we have a moral duty to fight these small battles, too. To educate those who are tip-toeing and waltzing with this excited newcomer called Faith. And to submit to this fact, we might need be educated ourselves.

The gospel reminds us as it is patiently read, that all are under the same condemnation. Something must change. Some concession must be made. And we have before us prime occasion either to stand tall for the life of Witness, or to shirk away to the life of backing a heresy. No, but so much as this we will never concede to one who, in all appearances, is an enemy of the church! Yet it isn’t about me, or about you: it is about what will finally get the motion underway from those frozen or loggerheaded areas. Nevermind that our doctrine is “Be sure to stage-manage the confession of faith…”. That is never our doctrine, in fact. More, to argue “anything but her”, “Anything but him”… this is to argue the lesser of two evils, when it is in fact even possibly birthed in personal pride or injured pride reluctantly sought for it having gone missing. Therefore it becomes easy to make public testimony of our own, unto the gatekeepers, unto the powers bigger than any of us: “Think what a rocking of the boat will follow! Think how a revival will ape all of us!”. We therefore have our faith, not to fuss around Power, but to trust God will clear the way, and even one day reward His humble ones. Those who aren’t self-righteous. Those… again, to the sad battles already fought… who simply wish to say “Gotcha!”, and have translated their armaments and toolkit to church life and its toolkit.

The Gospel will never die. Man, woman, may perish. Man, woman, may strike a plausible line until a head-shaking realization is made: we have to hear both sides! And that action not dignified with a response, at some point the ready-made response should have its day in court. In the court of public, church, opinion.

We are each of us capacious and spacious in our little niche of society. God don’t make no junk! To turn outward, to reassure the powers-that-be with the little shout from the underground, from the below sky fall, we are after a more docile Religion. We are after a capacity we have for stark Confrontation with the scourge of sin. With strange insights of how man, woman, cannot simply follow their instincts or go with the flow: heroic, stark, absence and curtailing, is at times called for. Because the dream forewarned. Because the affair needs be reflected upon in more monastic cell mindset, recalling Tolstoy’s horror of the monk who was tempted (Father Sergius), but also that this is spiritual Together War, and like the early disciples, we join hands and pray, sing a hymn, tears coming to our eyes at the Faithful, Monastic-meets-community, loving Adherence to principle and bigger picture: this is a courageous stand!