“2 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. 3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. 4 Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— 5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. 6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. 7 On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8 (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), 9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.” (Gal 2:1-10 ESV)

We give people power in two ways: by acknowledging their headship, and by obsessing about their nefarious nature. That is, of course, to support someone, to look up to them, this validates them. But also, to obsess and mock, to try always to “do the opposite”, to see them as false prophets and false leaders, while rooted in some nominally Judao-Christian or Abrahamic wisdom about how a central figure “works”, is to be a bit too clever. It is to be found pleading to a non-existent “father figure”: “Hey, it isn’t fair!”

Christians indeed face that age-old, mathematical, dynamic: of course, anything we dream up to do, well it is all allegedly covered by the blood: Christ is our absolution. But at the same time, each of us—for the sake of basic humanity—is called to lead and take up our cross, on our own prerogative. We have to complete the sufferings that Christ Himself wasn’t strong enough to carry. That is, He carried them to some perfect Proof, and in that Proof we are counted as agents of the Crown and of His Cross.

Sincerity, therefore, advocates for a non-zero-sum-game, a lossiness around complaining and a winsomeness around Filling the Void. All hands on deck! Contribution is in the capable hands of pundit and skeptic, of lawyer and publican, alike. We can even create wholesome lawsuits, wholesome critiques, wholesome friendships across nominally impenetrable lines.

Because it is some illicit Luxury to sit around and mope or “complain”. It is a false prophecy that says, hey, if this-and-such person is a “leader” or little “christ”, well that is relative in the sense of physics: if he or she ain’t your personal “christ”, well then let dead dogs lie. Let it be. Do not protest that society is making “christs” by attacking or “blaming”, pleading the blood of, said personages. If you don’t “love them back”, well then stop complaining. They aren’t “for you”. They aren’t “yours”. You find your own head and crown!

The vacuous forward drafted charge, is likewise an area of concern and prayer. Drafted soldiers, a fight on the homefront around Legitimate and Notional War, meets the cold steel reality of a war Front “out there”. And we have faith that our higher angels will be honoring the Company for its volunteerism and team meet up around the card table. We are pensive and reflective. We are agents of making a Good Forward Attack. That attack is ready to say “time’s up!” or “Here we go!” never concerned that our sacrifice is “too great”, “too weighty”: war has proven time and time again that our best are the ones sacrificed. Because they refused to stay silent.

But as to that “Draft”: strange our “in the know” fascination with other religions, because we do not “draft” our Jewish or Moslem, our Hindu or Buddhist, co-religionist, into our evangelized Faith quite: we literally are happy and overcome with joy to study the dialog and the similarities. But some would forcibly convert: what we once heard from a solemn hill called Calvary, this speaks to people of all world religions. We can see in our brothers’ eyes, our sisters’ eyes, something Humane, tried and true. That they do believe, while laudable Prophets and Sages exist, the Cross is ours to bear as well. Our good cheer, it is a dying man’s glee. A dying woman’s stoic but firm counterpoint. We see the hoards marched off to the frontlines as bombs drop and little makes sense, and we praise God for the few but central bastions of Thought and Planning, of Strategy and Camp-Tent Mentalisms. We are Mental around the mindgame. We are Mental around zero concessions. We are Mental around what truly drives a soldier, a soldier already nominally “insane” for their Catch-22 mindset: insane to walk right into the bullets fired, but therefore Mental because reality has finally preached her first and sole sermon: that Man does not need coddling, rather a pat on the back and a Reminder that Christ has proven something beyond the grave. And we His people modulate between that strategic retreat and that front-line warzone. To prove that Man is sinful, this takes chutzpah and is shouted down, rebelled against, our task is one of firm Parenting. The “coffee meetup”, it is a scary proposition when we can only plead with words, though “arrest” is on the table as what we propose. That Christ who is present, does Arrest the sinner for all good end purposes, for Resurrection, for Strength, for Beloved Status as Children. So we seek to be those post-Arrest, already Malleable, Reactive in M.O., Observant and Supplicant in posture. We have known the love in that Embrace, the strongman for the sinner. And we have seen that out of respect for our wildly positive Intellect, God is hands-off and Arrests in a spiritual sense, so that we may grin at how good it feels and at being Beloved once more, like in our first memories from our youth.