“9 There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” 11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. 13 And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” 15 And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. 16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. 17 And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. 18 Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”” (1 Kings 19:9-18 ESV)

In the blinding heat of battle, two favorite and contradictory sayings of Jesus come into play. He who is not against us is with us; and, he who is not with us is against us. These are no compromised status of our Lord’s sayings, rather, they reflect a saga underway and that heat of battle immediately affecting us.

He who is not with us is against us. Increasingly the battle is one man, woman, holding down the fort, lancing forward, discovering into the night realm. All others seem hemmed up by a former dispute that they haven’t yet marched past. In any case, regardless of where others are, we have a Call to lance forth and to strengthen the trenches.

And then, the flipside of the battle: we find many who were with us after all, all along. They charted their own course, perhaps, or simply went through that middling sequence of times when we had no comprendo back-and-forth. We didn’t comprehend their personal Statement and Call. We didn’t know how to combine and coalesce around a shared mission statement. That is, our shared mission statement we held on to in Faith, faith that the earlier times would prove remedy enough for the later times, that we would hold on to the Togetherness even when it is every man for himself.

Seeing so much detritus, plasticky and disposable, compromised estates, we also have faith that these others would earn in our mindset the status of Life, Life worth saving, Life worth taking on Faith that a positive spin lies on the other side of today’s battle. It is as though life has gone frozen, people hemmed up and people holed up, ineffective, spinning wheels, shaking a fist at the wind. Only us and our Duty matters. Our duty to Carry the tribe, Carry the cohort, Carry the team.

Our duty is to cease to Judge each other, for when we judge we invoke Legalism and Good Works: we ask whether these others are proving themselves, worthily carrying the banner, etc. And a Christian gamble, most salutary, a gamble our Christ Himself afforded, is to love rather than to judge, to account Worthy and see all Debts Paid. Jesus is the Reason we labor and our love for the loveless, for the wandering or hemmed up soul, is license and Invite to rise up Victorious in that battle over who is earning their keep around here. 

But do we feel it? In the heat of battle, do we have the thoughtful listeners Patient ability to scope out and dig deep: childhood trauma (everyone has it), present broken relationships (all flip-flop between blessedness and neurotic worry or futility), the meticulous Therapist’s Lounge that we today feel there is no time for. Good, and well done. The trauma, then, is the Soldier’s heat-of-battle Encounter with fear and with those very same things suddenly, irrationally, brought to mind as the bombs drop and the situation goes helter-skelter. We are still victims and still needful, though it would seem we are today Heroic for facing the frontlines. No, we are still welcoming of Christ’s patient Absolution and Rites most friendly and agreeable. The battle only inspired us, a bit, to go for broke, to Wake Up and fight, to have a Mission that is immediate and pressuring enough to inspire. Sometimes we need life-on-the-line to Rise Up. And all that Rising is asking of us, is this: do you know Jesus lived out a Saga from enmity to friendship, and everything in between? Do you know He was at war and especially so as He withdrew to Pray? So we think on these things, because Tomorrow cannot wait for Today to call out “Ready!”. We are ready already, because we know who shows up when we’ve “Found ourselves” and “Joined the battle” and “Waged the good fight”.