“14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17  “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18  even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. 19  And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 20  the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. 21  And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’” (Ac 2:14–21 ESV)

Life circumstance, experience, teaches that nothing counters self-frustration, self-avoidance mechanisms, dastardly downward thinking. We have only look to the stars, look to the headlines, look to the Community Narrative, to know that these are Special and Important days; and we, though erasing “me” from the equation, we are front and center Relied Upon and Called Upon, in each our own special way.

Circumstance and experience teaches some native ingratitude might be at work ‘round here. Yet the deeper reassurances, these also alight upon the soldier, upon the prophetic, upon what is Dealt as our Hand, what is Dutifully Discharged as our Call, what is Hoped Upon as our day’s break, day’s end.

The ingratitude of the masses, nonetheless, is not a call for a guilt trip carte blanche, but rather some deeper Prophecy and Studious View, Analysis: we are not only team-builders but Analysts, and what we “See”: this is never to be discounted as “merely…”. Never discounted as one meek soldier’s wandering mind. Never discounted as a peep from some weird underbelly or discounted Ones, lossy Ones, neglected and soon Forgotten Ones. We all of us, our ideas they are Bought with a Price, the Lamb’s blood and spirit On the Line on that rugged Cross.

So we leap forth to the news: Christ has etched in stone that This One—me!, we!—are forgiven. Now, to some bookkeeping: all manner of wild self-assured Conceits then rise up: as if! As if I, me, me, me, is in any sin! But sober reality teaches that all of us, even the so-called holier-than-thou in the pew or likely in the pulpit, has Real Sin. The kind that keep us downward in facial cast, frustrated, flummoxed. Yet so easily we Forget: and to have sin brought to mind, is immediately to weirdly make us discomfortable and apologetic.

No matter! Christ already Knew, and as He Knew, He took it upon Himself and He Forgave. So we can murmur loving words to those around us around how Crazy our mutual Christ is, what a bespeckled Sinner He is, and laugh a bit. Because it all came into Vogue, a New Vogue wherein we Stopped all the holier-than-thou stuff. Stuff that we needn’t invent: life and circumstance already invents our denials and forgetfulness, convenient remiss ideas.

To that Downward Thinking: Jesus Himself became despondent, His veneer became able to be touched. We was shook, a bit, shaken up a bit. We, too, never neglecting to Aspire to Be Like Christ, have adopted a Life’s Posture most salient and existential and Glue-On and Sustainable: the Peace and the absence of malaise, is glued right on, is perfected, is substratum for our mental and spiritual and corporate Existence. Only we moan: “I’m bored”; “I need prayer”; “If I was a good man or woman, I’d be… fill-in-the-blank”; “I’m not a good person”. And of Course! Of Course Christ is there to Forgive us, provided we keep sharp distinction between the Christ of mealy-mouthed churchy society, and the Christ Friend of Sinners.

The latter: He is our surety and He is our License brand new and all things told, to Eagerly envision the coming together of this soul—ours—and His soul—Christ’s. Because He ain’t too purty or elusively-free-of-sin. He is Able to face us in our unpresentable Sides. Weird, right? And those unpresentables: also He doesn’t Condone or Amp Up Sin in our lives: He is just “there”: nothing presumptuous, nothing licensing; just “there”. There for us when we hide away for a few “me” minutes. There for us when we ask what it’s all about. There for us when we mourn a loss or get down on ourselves for a principled failing.

If we’ve failed… please bear in mind, so many have Urgent Christ Experiences but are heavy-laden by depression or weird Impossibilities. Our own clear skies for sailing, for flying, for marching, for guarding: these are Unique and Special, time is now to Own the Day, because we are acting on behalf of So Many who cannot. And for these, Christ came as well. For these: if it helps, picture your Christ loving others before even yourself. And use that thought-exercise to Conclude: all the more, He dares and descends and labors to Love Us.