“2 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost 14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17  “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18  even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. 19  And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 20  the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. 21  And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ 22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him, “ ‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26  therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27  For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. 28  You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’ 29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 35  until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’ 36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”” (Ac 2:1–36 ESV)

The perception of a slow slog makes idiotic the soldier’s Endeavors: all was for naught. No one is signing up. It was all in the head. Indeed, our Plans… these mock and torment us. Our Plans… these were some mental break with reality. Our Plans… these were false promises made to a brother, to a sister, to a friend.

Only the Dreamer is patiently resuming her or his Private Mindset wherein all ecstatic and magical Train of Thought is a Special Place reserved for her or his wildest dreams. These fantasies… somewhere, to someone, somehow are Real. The portal, the recruitment, the aid is Real: someone is in a position to Aid in the revelation because one Invite, a family-wide invite, is not sufficient to invoke the Severity of the hour. More, there are different “tracks”, and the first is an all-professionals around here sit-down to jabber and debate, to ID ourselves to the “Crew” and serve our country, homeland and adoptive family country.

Because all citizens of the city, there is some way they can be Introduced, some magical dinner party or shared Focus Group: a spy in our midst! An ambassador in our midst! A risk-it-all cutthroat Thinker, assassin of the Christ spirit, in our midst! And this Magic… it spells eternal memories and firm in the stone Recollections. All citizens of the City can feel this specialness and, whether the militants and police break down their door with News: your services are needed; whether intruded upon or trustingly left to Grow and Engage on their own patient initiative and timeline, somehow and some way the Register of Deeds has recorded a patent Wondrous Capacity. It has made each of us possessed of a Halo, whatever our religion. It has made each of us strangely Better than those professional negotiators and spin doctors. It is a backroom, pizza shop Table Mannerisms sublime and Exactly what our kin and old time Crew needs, some Flavor and Flava of the “enemy” now “friended”.

Because we were never quite “enemies” in this regard, in regards to this personage or that. Our Enemy… closer to being someone from across town than someone from halfway around the world. Indeed, our enemy from across town… we are all grown up by now, and this may be the Day our country Needs Us. We are all grown up now, and maybe we can inadvertently make Peace, not on some obsessed-over “Mark”, but because the blueprint is xeroxed and gone Viral: someone, whomsoever you are, must fill the ranks, sign on the dotted line, be Present in the backrooms by the well-used Table and folding Chairs. 

Spirit speaks to Spirit, and education spells giant steps taken and by contrast decades lost and required in order Rightly to instill the lesson. Some lessons… they take a lot longer. Because God is patient with His children, not wishing that any should be coerced or forced into accoutrements too aged and mature for their present nursing status. The surface meaning… it is just that alongside the Service to Country and Nation, to Adoptive family and Citizenship in the World Order, well in addition there is the marriage feast of the Lamb, that we all can come together in the Good Tidings of the supper Made and the couple Engaged. This is no mark or hit on any one person, rather a Spiritual Understanding of how Imagination and Art flows from the pen of reflective souls, who reflect on real rumors in order to make fictional Characters. “It is being said around these parts that there is a certain someone who…” Make my day. Make our day. Tarry not and lance forth, bright as the noonday Sun.

The soldier wanders the city streets half meek and ashamed if their plans were too Bold, nothing doing, nothing to show for the years of work. And half eager to Resume to mindset solo and shared, of Ecstatic Revery in just the “what if”. The soldier is in seventh heaven, half the time, because Death has ceased to hold a sting. Death has ceased to torment or frighten. We have run our race, the fruit of each new day is just that: more gifts, as if we stand in for a Christ of antiquity who could not afford another day, come ministry’s End, and we His followers imagine a “what if” and what He might have accomplished.

They say, “convert us!” by way of mocking and faux-encouraging the new believer. They forbid listening to their preaching or googling their Facebook page, but still bleat “Convert us!”. “Don’t you know, of course an unbeliever forbids the Christian to look them over! Do something about it! Be a man, a woman! Show yourself Strong!”. This is atheism, because we weren’t sent for Jane Doe or Sally Dally of insert-your-town-here, not for Joe Schmoe or David Rabid, to hinder us with endless joking but murderous utterances, “Persuade us! Sell us Christ! Convert us!”. We were sent for those invisible souls, too numerous to number, who had genuine Gratitude and Patient Listening upon learning of our own (betrayal? Treason?) of coming to the Table called Christian. We were sent… we were On Mission… and the playing-hard-to-get of a nominal Church, a church sending its talons and missives broadly across their Rolodex, bigger than our Rolodex, a Church who mocked the Convert saying “Convert us”, this church is a tragic story.

Christian soldiers bear the heat of the day, the detritus and fluff of the climate change winds and storms. We are beleaguered, history will tell of what almost happened but then fell flat. Just like the what-if of Christ’s own life, all the potential of another five, ten years of ministry fallen into an urgent Theology of the Cross… and of an eschatology promising a second go of things, a Second Coming. Leaving to our wildest nerve-wracked and shimmering, shuddering Thoughts, daring Thoughts, of what could have been.