“12 For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. 13 For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand— 14 just as you did partially understand us—that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you. 15 Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. 16 I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? 18 As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. 20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. 21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. 23 But I call God to witness against me—it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. 24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith. 2 For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? 3 And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4 For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you. Forgive the Sinner 5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. 6 For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. 10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs. Triumph in Christ 12 When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, 13 my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. 14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.” (2 Co 1:12–2:17 ESV)

Long ago and far away God spoke to His people by the prophets. Law was given; the notion of God-ordained Creed was taught; Man, Woman, feared the Living Lord. Today, rather, some recent memory ago, God now speaks to His people by a Son. This Son fully reassures us we are no less and no more than Image-Bearers of the Father, Him making His will as enacted by the Son, by those vibing off of the Son’s charisma and magnetism, by a love fest of most Dire Backdrop: all-out War.

Because we are cavalier no longer, still we Reflect on our coming-to-the-table, our own Coming of Age, the simple ways it took Time to arrive at how we Perceive… and the youth in our midst, the child prophetic or healing, expansive of imagination or punctilious about Design: to them we Afford Time to grow into men and women.

Because the Evangelical “shove” towards Personal Conversion, is no onerous regretted duty, but is the Ticket to a Fascinating New Birth. More, we pray because oblong, obtuse, and awful Crimes—things that, like sin, we can’t wish away—perforate the Cipher, the Spiritual Quilt. People are each in their own way, though perhaps Principled, utterly Compromised by sins that they lacked the Heroism to suffer and die for. Awful legal precedents, awful “Yes, Ma’ams”, “Yes, sirs” to the Wrong Head, to one Other than Jesus as Lord.

And why? Threat? Implied or the fruit of the hearers vivid imagination around the loud boasts of a foe. Nothing more scary than someone who believes their own lie. So always the Conversion Myth and Storyline begets a gentle knocking, a gentle Plea, a gentle Come To Me. We cannot shove our creed down anyone’s throat. More, the power Capable and Enabled we become, the harder it is for someone to Sign Up: they are wowed or childlike (uneducated, that is, inexperienced) or just need that same Space and Time and Circumstance we ourselves needed: day number who-knows-what I first declared myself a believer; day ten years later I came into the Maturity of the Faith, via conduits of “shoved”, “violent” pushes to Convert vis-a-vis make Solemn Personal Inventory and Confession. Send to someone you know, love, or trust, perhaps. The sacrament of knowing someone “out there” Hears and… just Hears. Whether they Forgive or not, God Forgives.

Soup-to-nuts cavalier no longer Mission, then, is Field of Prepared and Studied Approach, the community having seen their beloved gone missing, away for a spell called Basic Training, the work now of a “it goes deep” intelligence official of the Crown of Christ, yes the vans with a sliding door revealing plethora of computer equipment, all that… its almost more spooky when none of that is quite Visible, the earpiece and the hidden exploding cigar, the leaping Shootouts and Violent nights. No, we are Curated as “the real deal” via some peaceable Feng Shui, some Copacetic community-oriented sad, perhaps, perhaps sad, but viciously Pruning the garden and muttering listings of ten, of twenty, of fifty, side projects, Game, Objects of Concern.

We have it in our Purse the power to make and to unmake, to do things “Only We” can quite do. We are uniquely Poised, after some Headship’s insane—highly sensible, in fact—investment in something between Innocence of Design and Supreme Command. Because the societal Impact—again, to the Educated Son and Daughter—comes from Heartfelt, Embedded, Symbolic Gestures and Plausible—he, she: they’re real—appeals. We are no Mock-Up nor cynical Holy Innocents. We are the Real Deal because it is the fate of the Officer of War, of Intelligence, to be able never to explain away or justify some Excuse or Response to the Accusations, lest the game and gig be betrayed. And this is the impetus of books like The Spy Who Came In From the Cold: we are firstmost Christians, second-most military, third-most, of the intel stripe, the security man or woman, too, all wrapped up in some intel “community”. We cease trying to climb back into the lap of our Father or Mother Above, but gladly choose to make Holy Sacrifice, of career, of plausible genuineness as perceived, of innocence, of simple rat-race careerisms. We are most to be coveted, our “Make”, but most to be pitied, our “Forlorn solo crossing”. Because the Gospel is strange to all, including those versed in its creed. The Gospel helps us declare holy Polemic leading to Holier War, strange bedfellows made around a hastily-arranged table and folding chairs. 

Who sticks up, believes in the Cause? No, not Zionism or its inverse, not Protestantism or Catholicity, not Christian versus Muslim, but some Wielded Certainty of non-negotiable Origin Story, Place-in-the-Universe story. Something we Defend, at all costs, including our own Sanity. All is on the table, and God fulfills the prayers and hopes of the gentle and faithful stewards: He will return; He will set aright; He will show Zeal that excuses every embedded officer and her or his Accused status in the community. He will Reward those of high principle and firm negotiating tactic.