“4 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor 4:1-6 ESV)

What once was patient relief from boredom, is now punchy: who and what we are, what we claim to be, this raises hackles and sadly we venture through myriad decisions, any one of which is casus belli to some. For, what we knew was Christ and Him crucified. Strange the boredom, the weird alertness, the proactive Impulse of our rejoinder: we are not passive Christians, not the weirded out sorts of souls we shivered around and averred from in a time past; we are Equipped and Called to a wonderful inheritance (Psalm 17).

The church adopts some notion of “self improvement” that is again our casus belli. The church… she does a fine job of teeing up to the game of biblically-centered, prayerfully-enjoined, self reflections. But to us, to our nimble game, the puzzle of existence, has already admitted Defeat. What is plausible, what is sensible, what reassures the Ego of Man, this is in fact the antithesis of Christian Witness. Christian Witness is decidedly Different from common Man’s religion. Christian Witness is a resignation, almost, were it not also an illuminating Abundance of Love. God Loves us. But Sin is for real, and the game is not, “show me some sins and I’ll work on them” but rather, “show me some sins, and I’ll nod and accept Christ’s Mercy… already”.

Christians, soldiers of the faith, have a weird sense of being satisfied precisely in a weird place of humble resignation. Nothing need be done to earn our salvation. No self-flattery correctly assesses our status as Sinner. That this could be marketed publicly, that the sermon is heard and coherent to the general masses, this is due to the highly Relevant nature of the mystery. It is not, in fact, a mystery religion quite. Instead, it is preaching unto the end that is both militantly quantified, fought over, made tangible, and unto the end of Celebrating a theological principle not a wishy-washy gospel of good works.

The soldier therefore has on his or her thinking cap a bit, insofar as we have Discovered a New Arena, a New Playing Field, a New Focal Point. It is not some accomplishment that bears the fruit of long thought or elite knowledge. It is not some accomplishment kept hidden or secret. It is, however, radically Other-minded towards what we commonly take religion to be about. All of us need a wake up call regularly. The preacher tries to Remind of this antithetical notion called Grace.

The Hope, therefore, centers around unapologetic boldness because… not because we are rampant and assertive of our selves… but because our Creed has no time to hide in shadowy corners or to apologize and “play nice”. We were saved as though from a dastardly enemy called Sin, and we stop apologizing at some point; more, we aggressively go Forward in the Gospel, as people who have cherished and held close to heart an Experience. Of some vacuum emptiness of the halls of Good Works, and some sublime subtle Nearness to a blanket unconditional Love.

The soldier is no longer ashamed, no longer trying to “fix things” by a weaker or submitted Demeanor. The soldier has acquainted her or himself with Cause, with Mission, with Alacrity and Purpose. We are those alert, those purposeful; we are ambitious or rambunctious around the plain Truth as Felt, Heard, Experienced: that Christ came to save sinners, of whom we are the foremost. If it raises hackles, well this is for what Christ Himself died. Amazing, the litany of oblong rambunctious claims we have made as Christians, that did not spell our end game, were not our last words of record, were strangely absorbed into the group milieu. Why are we still here, after all? Because Christ’s doctrine is not elite nor secretive, rather it spells a sense of soothing purr to the Many, many do hear and whistle for joy, though only getting one-half of the claims: God for us, yes, but the Cross… isn’t that quaint! They say, isn’t that quaint! And we avoid even the rumor of submission to this quaint notion; we were serious to have raised the issue of the Cross, and we are serious when laughed at and plausible things are lofted our way. It is plausible we are still feeling a bit Guilty… but we aren’t! It is plausible we are simply repeating someone else’s words… but these are our own solemn testimony! It is plausible we don’t “really believe it”… but our daily bread consists of putting our own souls and peace of body and mind on the line!

The mission is weirdly to merge resignation with awakened Action. To resign… this is only possible in the Light of Christ’s vacuum and His Presence to fill our void. Our voidedness… this is strange straitjacket to the aggressive ones trying to do some good on their own… it is peace to the one whose heart is strangely warmed. We are strangely warmed, and literally can think of nothing of our own to boast in. Around the campfire, in the urban or rural march, we knew only this: that our Christ and leader is For Us, and we, His people, could think of no other response than to Follow, than to be besotten with a strange determined gaze: God loved us. God came for us. God remade us, and the pennies-on-the-dollar return on investment, is ours to recognize, a bargain, a steal, you have the words of eternal life, where else might we go?