“8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; 11  let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. 12  For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.” (1 Pe 3:8–22 ESV)

To be in a state of readiness differs from being in a state of hate. War uncalled for, this is hate. It also means seeking some false pie-in-the-sky Remedy… remedy for discord, for political maneuverings, for culture wars, for simple ennui and wishing one had had a more diverse, rainbowed and musical, childhood. We take this snake oil, the Illusion somehow just give me a commander in chief, give me for each family a head… and some families respond, we are that head, each of us, to strike out and lance forth on our own Individual Initiatives… this is something Holy. We are that Headship, to do good in the world, serve justice to the oppressed, learn a patient style of personal (childrens’) education and coming-up in the world.

The shove of lawsuits and aggressions, these with no guile nor art turn Anything into a financial asset, a line item: he or she, they’re supposed to solve the culture wars… but let’s face it, they aren’t worthy; why don’t they just wave their hand and say, “Here is my stance”?

Readiness, this leans on a Jesus truth, that we can only “model” in our minds the sins or postures of Others if we ourselves share in that sin or posture, or can at least relate to it as something repented of perhaps long ago and far away. Readiness, therefore, means to update our liberal peaceful daily routines, the coffeeshops and the bike riding around town, the family gatherings and the personal space to Thrive in, Create in, do Art in. We update all this with the Fact of a beleaguered—yes, beleaguered probably because of their “peoples’” own early sins in the childhood time. But beleaguered nonetheless, and how this Beleaguerment spells a declaration of war. Not just of war, but the premise being that it is a time of War, that the declaration, well that’s a given; see how our world is at war, they say!

Readiness means alacrity, sincerity, heart-on-the-sleeve Together Mindset around the Agents’ patient handshake and fecundity, ability to form Trust, ability to look into the eyes and realize it is a Working Relationship. Not to smirk, not to quibble, not to Reserve ourselves or Hold Out for something greater. Christ is here. Christ is inviting us in. Readiness means a quiver of arrows in the bow as we launch forth from our front doorstep eager and serious in our demeanor, coached and wartime Ready in our countenance.

Professional agitators are real, but more so what is real is broad regions and landscapes ripe for the gospel, ripe for Selling not a snake oil but a Creed, a Person, a Reason for the Season. We are not suspicious, because by and large… these are no Compromised, Contagion-infested, Plague-infested, hallowed halls, but are places where Life is forming and gestating.

Stark Decisions, then, separate us from the warring mentality without divorcing us from the wartime readiness. Not cynical, we nonetheless Anticipate that they are half-crazed around the Licenses afforded by the wartime notion that the days of polite discourse and reasoning are past. Liberal junk, one side says. Neocon excuse-making says the other side. Both are unthinkingly debated to whom belongs their Christ, their Religion, their Flag.

Because while it can become itself a commodity and line item, the Claim, audacious but borne in Experiences of hate and trials and hardships, that This One will solve the culture wars… well, one way to ruin that! Go and spread the news in a credulous fashion, not believing, aped and brought into jealous antagonism: you mean, you know better than all my elders?

And we try and answer, “No!”. Your elders, they are the saints done brought us this far! But the disbelief, the incredulous gossip, the robbing of societal structures and peacemaking institutions like Church: this is horrifying!

The soldier therefore does not worry himself or herself about Civilian Pursuits, but suits up come daybreak with a mind to streamlining and keeping the peace on Frontline Encounter Zones. The “Chinatown” (to quote so many good films); the “Little Italy” (ditto); the “Koreatown”; the ethnic neighborhood generally, as a place for International Intrigue, and all these places as locales where Military Responses one day soon will come about, because they say, “Kill anything not loyal to us…”, because they have already in their corrupt minds assumed, proclaimed, made excuses, around a state of War against the Saints, a war of theology most false and of denials most real. And we go the long route of Not doing the murder and warring modalities, because we shall not be compromised when a Christ Event is now and always With Us. Time will come: readiness will become alacrity and forward march. But for now we are the Peace and the Olive Branch, undistracted.