2023-08-29 A Meditation on Life’s Hard Bargain
“15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” (Eph 1:15–23 ESV)
Being found in the groove, though life drives a hard bargain, there is an accumulated situation wherein we can thrive, excelling at our own faith walk, blessing those who draw near in their own faith walk. That is, time was when things seemed impossible. Nigh impossible, the experience and the ticket to thrive each sought and found in us a laborer’s mindset, an eagerness to be about the Master’s business, a journey and companionship unto a way of being at once hardworking, but at once heir to a Higher Power, which power cleared the way and made of us those with something pastoral to share.
The soldier’s pastoring gait, then, is no concession to fluff, weak-minded complaints, but rather hears a cry and an opportunity in even the most grand brandishings of strength. The pastor is in the strata of recognisance, the posture of indwelling Spirit, each party invited to warm by the fire, each constituent seen as A-okay in their quiet or in their speech. For some and at some times we need to speak; at times we need to give Expression and Sentiment. There is therefore a winners’ circle regarding the authors and heads, who win by eyes focused on the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Who win by a Spirit regaling with not weakness but bountiful goodness, a leaf turned, a fuss ameliorated: to regale with goodness is to be available to Listen whilst being available to speak out of a regard one holds for a Higher Power. We regard a Higher Power, and we have answered all those questions that were impediment for the outsider seeking to join, and were blockage to the insider in his or her self-identity.
They were upset that we didn’t have all the answers, yet they also heard this as a sincere confession, and went to work simply To Be. To be possessed of glad tidings. To be in the business of relaxed interlocution and bettering of the spirit of one’s peer. We believe we can better the matter, and more than that, that it is a thankless job, that we will walk home alone and wondering if anything took root, if any good soil was recipient of our rather dicey outlay.
For our outlay is easily slandered as dicey or too cavalier. Yet again: to the perch and to the ramparts: we only wanted a Religion summarized not by all its impossible conundrums, but by its Cross, as that sum reduction and place of home base. So we can speak post-Cross, possessed of New Life, on the Other Side of a beleaguered, unpopular, hard-fought life. We no longer know except that God has made tasks and laborers of these His people. And He humbles, with awareness of frightful sin at times, yet that only so that we might the more love Him and accommodate Him in our heart of hearts.
So, there was a time when nothing was going our way. When we had little to point to, and less to be confident in. Yet we also know the times of plenty, and of being in the groove where we begin to speak up with slightly more sense of belonging, if not of deservedness then of a sense that at the very least we should be treated like our peers are treated, no harsher word for us, no greater burden. Even as we embrace that Cross, and do learn to celebrate according to the measure of our Faith.
To celebrate is to adopt the dynamic wherein persecution and neglect does come, and never to concede that God’s absolving Love for us is anything less than immediate and available. We are perhaps more experienced with sin than some, but all the more then should be more possessed of the Holy Spirit and His celebratory gait alongside each of us.