“24 Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2 But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” Signs of the End of the Age 3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Mt 24:1–14 ESV)

The High Noon of Christian experience is the slumbering giants awoken, the postlude to wailings of “Mountains, fall on us, hills cover us!” Awoken, because we go full throttle on a patient timeline, we are all nerves and breakdown until rightly Challenged at our proper Level. Respective levels: God is God of the poor, not just in coins jangling in the pocket, but of lacking spiritual heft, wisdom, sagacity: God will not try us beyond our Capacity to heal, to form and gestate, to Emerge restored.

Thus our span of weeks, certain in number, of therapy is an Experience of overturned angst, overturned pain, overturned rejectamenta, overturned Dastardly conniving Punishment. The saints are Punished. The saints are Fall-Guys and Fall-Gals. The saints, they are too dastardly far ahead of the pack with their judicious and curt style, thereby earning the ire and reprobation of a Mass of people.

Tried, we mourn with those who mourn, that so much prompts us Today, Already, to mourn a lost brother or sister, to reflect on how Impossible even one lost would amount to. We purr over, modulate over, perambulate around, a Bedrock of Factuality that Presses, that keeps us properly Challenged, Tasked, Assigned, Called, Equipped, Sent Forth. The end of the unthankfulness has Arrived! We are Appreciated! We are Acknowledged, as being those vessels overly used and overtly pushed, harmed, exposed to Extenuating needs of the few, rather than the right calling of the gentle needs of the Many.

The Day of small things, this is a Day in which patent sobriety is not underappreciated, patent chastities are not underappreciated, patent shucking of the garments of Sin is not underappreciated. We shuck, and strangely Emerge, on the Church Scene, in the Pews, at the threshold to the red door and Welcome, the incense and costumes, the symbols and flags.

Because time was we poured out a drink to the ground, for absent sisters and brothers. For the crew. For the Gathering. For the Assembly: sometimes words only go sycophant and awful, go brash and incongruous, grating and unmelodic. We speak with a gesture what cannot be Emoted as verse or words. We go to that place where Already the trials post-Armageddon are taking place, where we are rightly pushed to our limits and lash back Fighting and Awakened, finally a hundred percent Awoken and by our silence or by our words, showing ourselves Right Proper members of the fraternity, sorority. Playing by the rules, yes, but More: using every occasion to preach a Word, because salvation is closer now than when we first believed. A word Preached by our calm, by our Bedrock self-assurance, by our Headstrong opinions and plain confessional Hangups to those so beset. Beset by addiction. By vice. By really never leaning on anyone, except to take the request, the query, right back upon ourselves: “when you have time, just maybe?”. Politeness, it saves souls, and shows Reverence for something Mystical and Elusive, right Fear of the Unknown, right Clerical Duty to be calm and circumspect, harboring these truths in our hearts rather than going full Gossip mode.

To emote One Word by way of explaining our material Frame: this Word is our right and our duty, no slackers living rent-free, but Dutiful Members explaining with at times only One Word, their Raison d’Etre, their cry of relief at the hands of a Good God, their place in the universe Understood, no demagoguery but Heights and Loftiness dwelling right by our sides in the Community: friends, interesting conversation partners, occasion to Reflect, and absence of Accusation.