“13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. 19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” (James 5:13-20 ESV)

The willingness to burrow, shock events, calamitous events: metastasized Creed lights up, peeps forth, begins to engender Acceptance and Conversion. We burrow: because sin is Hindrance and Obstacle to the advent of words most mellifluous. We cannot bear up under the weight of sin. We are in some wise rebellious or at odds with something within ourselves. And the clear sailing, the days of come-what-may, these suddenly are occasion to say Thank You; we are Grateful that Absolution so effectively held up our morale whilst Burrowing, whilst Calamity is met, whilst Shock is lived into.

Tides will turn and wondrous Heaven awaits us in some said Shock or Calamity, that life is Eternal and that where we go… it matters, as does our Hope in having made the Good Confession. Strange days arrive, where truly it is Religion that shines aspect upon aspect of mutual forbearance, better, of mutual gamesmanship. No boring creed, it is aggressive and sublime, cynical and hopeful, world-weary and possessed of youthful vigor: to live for, to die for, to catapult beyond the framework of life and death and live Post-Mortem for, a grand Entrance called Christ’s Tomorrow. 

It is not patronizing nor talking down to anyone, to say that Religion teaches a more basic Ethos, one around the faultlines or obsessions of Mind: that the things we focus on, these are both an accent or advent of good intentions, purpose sublime, and are obsessed over to a fault. What it “means” to win, to lose, these things go on a blessed imaginative journey, and though pained, though in dying shock or calamity, though depressed or disappointed, Christ’s Gospel is there to whisper positivity in our ear. And these things we engage upon, not requiring any longer to be “top of the heap” but willing soldiers of an anonymous stripe, contributing to the group brain and brawn. What serves which, who serves what, roles lauded and necessitated, these give each Denizon some reason to live on, to serve gladsomely, to know theirs is the “winning gig”, the ticket to ride, the glue that holds it all together.

Likewise we know not how to pray as we ought, but by firm Expectation, Imputation, Parenting, we refuse to condescend even for a moment to cynical diatribe. We refuse to concede to ambitions sinister or to spooky suspicions all around. We hold up a stiff upper lip around Quality engagement, life in quality community, life held together perhaps only by a few saints in the land, but theirs being no Cause to dismiss or forgo.

The Church, she lives into Hopeful tomorrow-land, and is a shock-landing bastion of Peace and wildly fun observations as to how and why and with what gusto people are lifted up, healed, forgiven, remade. See the creed, that none are despised, none thrown out, none victim of an errant or passing judgment, until the full counsel of Christ’s scriptures and love for the sinner is shown. The duty, then, is never to acquiesce to start attending church, rather real “men”, real “women”, real “folk” always see it as a personal Service: to imitate Messiah’s love for the sanctuary and for the creed and for the people. We are egalitarian enough, principled enough, regal enough, to Make it Happen ourselves. Because He meets us in prayers unshared at times, or shared only in the broadest brushstrokes. It is no “lie”, rather it is a proactive living out in community, that spreads the good news and ignores, refuses to grant legitimacy, to anything cynical or disbelieving of the motives, of the backwaters, of the childishness, of the unacknowledged mutual Need. Everyone needs sanctuary. Everyone is an unknowing Witness to Event horizons and Tomorrow-Hope.