“12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil. 23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. 25 Brothers, pray for us. 26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. 27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (1 Thess 5:12-28 ESV)

The faith not only enables the free-willer to take ownership of their actions, it preaches a brand of compassion to the unbeliever that is not patronizing. It would be patronizing to say, they are not in control of their actions, let us decide in their stead. Compassion says, we are only authors of the spiritual, and on the spiritual realm what we share is pure Gift. It is plain New Encounter. It is a What If.

To take ownership of our own actions is to resolve any and all angst, depression, anxiety, forlorn thoughts, unto a Recipe not of our own making, but of the Alter Ego and the Adored Maker being paramount. We enlist. We soldier forth. Because this confidence was ours to own: that amidst all hair-raising judgments, all fears we failed to make the grade, all encounter with our own mortality and what’s worse, our own complicit nature, amidst all this we Reacted non-rebellious, non-proud, copacetic unto His embrace.

Our compassion understands that, eyes to see, ears to hear, not all have these: it is a Gift not of our own making. The lauded prophetic voice… see this father or mother figure, this Son and Daughter, underappreciated or dismissed. Like a fine wine to someone seeking simply a liquid respite, or pearls before swine, the wheels and gears of time not only do not “work” as far as upholding the good, right, and true; they fail in exactly the opposite direction: our prophet is persecuted and killed. Our beauteous Tomorrow envisioned, is cut short precisely at the moment it should be apparent it is “done in Christ”, “healthsome to the community”, “a win-win situation”.

Therefore we Mourn, those already complicit in a crime, now “nothing to lose” mentality. As to we ourselves, the sad fact is that theirs was a rather professional wartime remark and action. And so our notions of “Hey, let’s seek a shared judgment and way forward…”; it is a little too late, too tragic, too warlike to bring to pass. We already lost: the war with satanic revenge, with a militarized or shielded enemy just waiting until we understand finally that theirs was a strategic aggression and posture.

But we love and endear ourselves in light of Resurrection Faith, that many escaped the flames, that the oblong Absence of so many souls… these are found anew on the flipside. Hey, I forgive you! I forgive my enemies! We do this because the soldier is only hot and bothered if they fail to forgive the lanced inimical aggression; we ourselves choose to lance the corpuscle, and to dream just as big as an enemy dreamed petty. We dream positivity, they dream aggression and despoiling. One friend, and the enterprise is saved; a friend in art school, in the humanities, in the intellectual; versus friends in high and mighty industry, no less “made over” or fabled, no less influential and sticking point. All learn to get along and to share the sidewalks of our cities and towns.