“13 And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” 2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” Signs of the End of the Age 3 And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” 5 And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains. 9 “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. 10 And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. 11 And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. 12 And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. 13 And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. The Abomination of Desolation 14 “But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, 16 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 17 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! 18 Pray that it may not happen in winter. 19 For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be. 20 And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days. 21 And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. 23 But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.” (Mk 13:1–23 ESV)

To talk to the pain is to embrace a worldview cogently: we can face distant malaise, distant hegemony most evil, distant hardships, because we have Faced what is troublesome locally. Christian theology ebbs and flows, but its Takeaway is a level of Action and of Decision that apes evil spirits; we are humbled, yes, but towards the Cown. We are derided and mocked, yes, but in a winning Day it amounts to nothing. We are at a Loss, yes, but par for the course, the new Normal, it innoculates us against Heavy, Broader Oppression. 

The Saint wakes up each day and, not hating his or her own flesh, nonetheless Acts Decisively around patently Christian outlay. Such Christianity—can you feel the excitement?—blissfully Reposes almost to a fault. We are resting in Christ’s Embrace. We hear murmurs of Good Things. We are a bit wearily not breaking silence, never betraying a confidence, always aware as to the surface meaning, but never too silent as to Deny the Merciful Savior.

Meantime isn’t life exciting? We can pray through the escapades, the brilliant existential Travels of peers “in the Faith” abroad, in the hometown, across the street; here and now. But to say the Christian is some “known quantity” or “plainly transparent” is to Deny just how much Gospel Truth radicalizes and is itself no boring loserdom, but something mystical and Hip, something Advantageous as a Creed, to the calculations of what Spirit should Lead the troops. 

What spirit, indeed. One revolving around a Passion and Cross, around a patent loss of all things, cue heavy music, in the Name of a Tomorrow Success: Resurrection. It is a faith drives men and women Mad. It is a faith, frustrates… yet an enemy wants us muttering to ourselves, utterly Vexed, and goes a bit stir crazy themselves if we end up not Vexed.

The Spirit who curates, cuddles, coheres, approaches, embraces the Soldier, is not just an old set of books or a rote, familiar statement of faith, rather it is Unique to the Individual to Discover on their own a Personal Christ, a Favorite Scripture, a sense of Heavenly Unction. We who Pray… we are entrusted to adhere to much broader Concerns than we would think lie at our pay grade. Above our pay grade, indeed, we dare Pray for people in authority, for kings and queens, rulers and commanders. If that trip of the mind, that ecstatic lance forward isn’t enough, we go on fumes wild-eyed unto Day’s End, with our Prayers, with our Ecstatic Life of Participation in the Spirit.

The cipher shall not be broken. The sense of deities and fathers, mothers and teachers, is not stolen away except insofar as “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” was Christ’s lament on the Cross. Freefalling, starting to puzzle as to whether our sense of decency, of what is patently Right and what Wrong, this is Overcome by the Good News of Christ: the poor shall not have this hope taken from them, and likewise the well-to-do: God was at their parties, and in their mix, a milieu ripe for Healing Ministries. Our cipher Continues intact, though we have earthly mothers and fathers, we have spiritual ones as well, and that in spades. We are, again, on this strange trip that is both exhilarating, yet is never far from the cold truth of a pained existence, a compromised City, a dubious Nation. Doubts, these rise up when the Size of the Enmity becomes clear; we shall win, but the victory is strangely only for those Certain of a Life in the Spirit. The rest of the world… it will be but a blip on the radar, “Oh, did you hear about that man, hung on a tree last week…”.